England and Wales County Court (Family)

His Honour Judge:

X Authority applies to the Court for a care order in respect of a young boy, GJ, who was born on 10th June 2004.  His parents are MJ and GJ.  The proceedings were issued on 4th July 2008 and an interim care order was first made on 9th July 2008.  Since the making of that interim care order, G has been placed with a foster carer with whom he still lives and who the Local Authority proposes that he should continue to live with for the foreseeable future.  The matter comes before me today for final hearing.

Sadly, in January of this year, the mother died and so the father remains the only parent whose views the Court needs to take into account.  On the father’s behalf today I have been told, firstly, that he accepts that the section 31(2) threshold is satisfied on the basis of a schedule of findings put before me today by the Local Authority, and they are agreed.  In the light of those findings, I am satisfied that the section 31(2) threshold is met in this case.  The Local Authority’s final care plan, as I have indicated, is that G should continue to live with his present foster carer.  His father has contact with him every Sunday from 12 until 7.  That contact, as I understand it, is unsupervised and the father would like in due course to see that extended to include overnight contact and some consideration is being given to that and will no doubt continue to receive the Local Authority’s careful consideration.

I am assisted today by a very helpful and very detailed report from G’s Children’s Guardian, JP.  I have read that report.  Miss P is supportive of the Local Authority’s final care plan, which is for a care order to be made and long term foster care to be the means by which G is going to be cared for in the future.  There are, I note, some concerns expressed by the Guardian in her report.  It is not necessary for me to articulate those concerns in this short judgment, but it is appropriate that I should say that I hope the Local Authority will take those concerns firmly on board and take them into account in its future planning for this child. 

Subject to that point, I am satisfied that the final care plan is in G’s best interests.  I, of course, take into account all of those factors that I am required to take into account under section 1 of the Children Act 1989 and I therefore make a full care order in favour of X Local Authority.

At an earlier stage in these proceedings, I note that the Local Authority also issued an application for a placement order, its plan at that stage having been one of adoption.  That is no longer the Local Authority’s plan and I give leave to the Local Authority to withdraw its application.  I approve the draft order with the amendments that have been discussed.