“I would…announce loud and clear that the standard of proof in finding the facts necessary to establish the threshold under section 31(2) or the welfare considerations in section 1 of the 1989 Act is the simple balance of probabilities, neither more nor less.”
“If a legal rule requires a fact to be proved (a 'fact in issue'), a judge or jury must decide whether or not it happened. There is no room for a finding that it might have happened. The law operates a binary system in which the only values are 0 and 1. The fact either happened or it did not. If the tribunal is left in doubt, the doubt is resolved by a rule that one party or the other carries the burden of proof. If the party who bears the burden of proof fails to discharge it, a value of 0 is returned and the fact is treated as not having happened. If he does discharge it, a value of 1 is returned and the fact is treated as having happened.”
“62. Failure to protect comes in innumerable guises. It often relates to a mother who has covered up for a partner who has physically or sexually abused her child or, one who has failed to get medical help for her child in order to protect a partner, sometimes with tragic results. It is also a finding made in cases where continuing to live with a person (often in a toxic atmosphere, frequently marked with domestic violence) is having a serious and obvious deleterious effect on the children in the household. The harm, emotional rather than physical, can be equally significant and damaging to a child. 63. Such findings where made in respect of a carer, often the mother, are of the utmost importance when it comes to assessments and future welfare considerations. A finding of failing to protect can lead a Court to conclude that the children's best interests will not be served by remaining with, or returning to, the care of that parent, even though that parent may have been wholly exonerated from having caused any physical injuries. 64. Any Court conducting a Finding of Fact Hearing should be alert to the danger of such a serious finding becoming 'a bolt on' to the central issue of perpetration or of falling into the trap of assuming too easily that, if a person was living in the same household as the perpetrator, such a finding is almost inevitable. As Aikens LJ observed in Re J, "nearly all parents will be imperfect in some way or another". Many households operate under considerable stress and men go to prison for serious crimes, including crimes of violence, and are allowed to return home by their long-suffering partners upon their release. That does not mean that for that reason alone, that parent has failed to protect her children in allowing her errant partner home, unless, by reason of one of the facts connected with his offending, or some other relevant behaviour on his part, those children are put at risk of suffering significant harm.”
“All social workers, and family support workers, working with children and families need to be trained to recognise and deal with parents with learning disabilities. The Guidance issued by central government needs to be followed.”
"28. … the court's assessment of the parents' ability to discharge their responsibilities towards the child must take into account the assistance and support which the authorities would offer. So "before making an adoption order … the court must be satisfied that there is no practical way of the authorities (or others) providing the requisite assistance and support."
"It will be the duty of everyone to ensure that, in those cases where a supervision order is proportionate as a response to the risk presented, a supervision order can be made to work, as indeed the framers of theChildren Act 1989 always hoped that it would be made to work. The local authorities must deliver the services that are needed and must secure that other agencies, including the health service, also play their part, and the parents must co-operate fully."
“154. If those involved in cases such as this are in future to avoid the criticisms which, understandably and, as it seems to me with no little justification, have been levelled against some of those involved in the present case they would be well advised to bear the following precepts in mind: i) Social workers should, as soon as ever practicable: a) notify parents of material criticisms of and deficits in their parenting or behaviour and of the expectations of them; and b) advise them how they may remedy or improve their parenting or behaviour.”
“Whilst [XX] identified positive qualities in her mother and noted, for example, that she could be physically affectionate, she reported that her mother has continued to use physical chastisement with her and I was left with the impression from [XX] that she finds her mother very stern at times. It seems likely that her attachment to [M] has been ambivalent and that she has tended to test the solidity of this relationship through pushing behavioural boundaries. [XX] described positive qualities in her father, who she appears to view as providing for her material needs. It is notable that she was not able to identify any negative qualities in her father.” “In the short, medium and long-term, [XX’s] emotional and behavioural difficulties will have a significantly negative impact upon her family relationships, her engagement with education and her ability to sustain positive relationships with teachers and other people in positions of authority if they are not sufficiently addressed through access to a consistently positive quality of care.”
“[ZZ’s] capacity to apply himself to early learning activities in school will depend on his ability to regulate his emotions, sustain his attention and follow directions. These abilities in turn will rely on the effective management of his emotional and behavioural needs at home so that he is fully receptive to education.”
“[ZZ] is reported to show angry outbursts and testing of behavioural boundaries at home by his foster carer. He is also described as exhibiting aggressive play and angry outbursts in school when he has needed to share resources with other children.” “In the short-term and in the event that his language, communication, attention, emotional and behavioural needs are not met effectively, there is a risk that he will show restricted language development, poor engagement with learning and social interaction in school, delayed educational attainments and worsening behaviour at home and in school. In the event that his difficulties are not addressed in the medium term, there is a risk that he will show sustained language and attention difficulties and worsening behaviour, at home and in school. In the longer term, there is a risk that [ZZ] will increasingly disengage from learning in school and show significantly challenging behaviour that results in exclusions.”
“M has an extremely simplistic, “black and white” view of the world. Her main coping style is one of avoidance. When faced with a complex emotional or interpersonal problem, she is highly likely to be insensitive to the implications.” “M will have difficulty responding to her children’s emotional needs because of the limitations in her own psychological functioning. She has the capacity to develop a close attachment and I believe that she loves her children very much which is of course essential to good parenting but it is not sufficient and unfortunately, her level of understanding of emotional issues is limited and she has a strong tendency to block feelings out which impairs her ability to be attuned to the children.” “I do not think that M’s parenting skills can be sufficiently enhanced such that she could be enabled to parent the children herself, in the absence of a strong and reliable support network. Her psychological limitations are too pervasive, across the cognitive, social, cultural and emotional domains, and it would place too much burden on her, only setting her up for failure in a way that would compound the situation for her and for the children. Her motivation to do her best is not in question but her capacity to apply new parenting skills and concepts is limited and she will need a comprehensive package of support from the extended family and from professionals through-out the children’s developmental years to implement positive change consistently”
“On9th October 2018 , two members of staff at the family doctors Surgery witnessed the girl’s father kick one of the siblings whilst in the car park and push her over.”
“On4th March 2020 , XX and YY informed teaching staff that their mother had hit them that morning and that she frequently hits them. CP medical reports on 10.03.2020 confirmed that bruises on YY’s finger and XX’s leg were both non-accidental and consistent what the children had reported. XX had informed Dr Cainer and Dr Levy that her mother had hit the girls with a shoehorn and a slipper. XX reported mother ‘hitting her all over except on her head.’”
“Wanted to let you know that XX disclosed again that she is being hit. She went to the teacher’s desk after lunchtime and told her that another child had wanted to tell her sometimes she felt that, ‘her dreams were crushed’. This led to XX telling the teacher that she sometimes felt that way because ‘I get abused by my mum. She hits me and my sister. Today she hit YY with the part of a toilet roll when it’s finished, and it was hard.’ I continue to remain very concerned at how the girls are presenting. XX is difficult to manage in class and YY is very clingy.”