England and Wales County Court (Family)

Neutral Citation Number: [2010] EWCC 51 (Fam)

BEFORE:

HER HONOUR JUDGE H

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RE S

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JUDGMENT

(Approved)

1.      JUDGE:  I am dealing today with an application by (name given) Council for a care order in respect of S.T.  S was born (date given).  The proceedings originally also related to her brother B, who was born (date given).  B’s case was concluded at an earlier stage and he is now placed with his father R.T. and one understands that that placement is going well.  S’s case had to be delayed and has taken quite a long time to resolve.  The proceedings started as long ago as August 2008 when both children were made the subject of a Police Protection order, then an Emergency Protection order and then from after the expiry of that order until today S has been the subject of interim care orders.  S could not have her case concluded sooner because she has very complex needs, and there have been enormous difficulties in maintaining her in her placement because of her behaviour, and she has had many placements during the course of her time in the interim care of the Local Authority. 

2.      I quote from the Guardian’s report which refers to:

“The fragility of S’s personality and the complexity of her needs. She is a traumatised child who has suffered harm to her emotional social and emotional development.  She does not trust adults and this is a reflection of the insecurity in her attachments with her mother and father.  It is evident that her need for therapeutic treatment and for a protected controlled space is the paramount consideration when planning for her future care arrangements.”

3.      S is a young person with very complex needs and I am pleased to say that she is currently placed in a specialist unit away from the area, in which her therapeutic needs are being addressed.  The Local Authority are committed to keeping her in that placement for at least a further six months and hopefully, subject to the views of a Resources Panel within the Local Authority, for much longer than that. 

4.      I make it clear that this court believes that that placement meets S’s needs and that it should continue as a placement for her as long as she needs it.  She is having her therapeutic needs met and appears to be responding to the consistency of care and the therapeutic input that she is receiving.  She sees her father and her brother six times a year, and that is to continue.  That contact, particularly the sibling contact, is a very important part of the Local Authority’s care plan.

5.      Mrs T., S’s mother, has bravely today agreed that S should remain in the care of the Local Authority.  I have commended her for that already but I do so now in the course of this formal judgment, because in doing that a parent is very firmly placing a child’s needs above their own and Mrs T. is to be commended for that realistic and brave decision which she makes today.  Mr. T. indicated through his solicitor sometime ago that he was accepting that S should remain in the care of the Local Authority and be cared for in a therapeutic placement. 

6.      The welfare checklist has been considered in this case.  Clearly S’s needs are my paramount consideration, her welfare is my paramount consideration and I am more than satisfied that her welfare is met by being placed in the care of the Local Authority and for the care plan which the Local Authority have placed before this court to be endorsed. 

7.  So I make a care order placing S in the care of (name given) Council.  I make no order for costs save public funding assessment. 

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