Case No. KH18C00272

The Parties and the Proceedings1.In these consolidated proceedings I am concerned with the welfare of 6 children who range in age from 6 to 17 years old. When issued, the proceedings involved 7 children. However, the oldest child who had made no allegations and denied any knowledge of sexual abuse in the family, reached her 17th birthday last year and was, with the agreement of all, discharged as a party. 2.Of the 6 children who are the focus of these proceedings, 5 were made the subjects of care orders in June 2018. Following the making of final care orders, and over a period of around 14 months, the children made allegations of sexual abuse against a number of adults and young people. They also reported sexual activity as between themselves. Allegations were made against their parents, 2 older brothers, a maternal uncle and aunt, a cousin and the stepson of another uncle. Allegations of sexual abuse were also made against the maternal grandmother and her deceased husband. Further, the children alleged that a maternal cousin was a victim of the sexual abuse they described. 3.As a result of the allegations made, the Local Authority issued applications for permission to terminate contact between the children and their parents. It also issued separate applications for care orders with regard to the cousin and her sister. As all applications were primarily grounded in the same factual allegations, the applications were consolidated. 4.The hearing before me is listed as a fact-finding hearing to determine the allegations made by the Local Authority that it submits meet the requirements of the threshold criteria pursuant to Section 31(2) Children Act 1989 and/or justify the termination of contact. The hearing was originally listed for a period of 10 weeks, a time estimate that did not include judicial reading time or time for the preparation of a judgment. By the application of the principles set out by MacFarlane P in ‘The Road Ahead 2021’, and effective collaboration between the 6 Queen’s counsel and 14 junior counsel that represent the 10 parties and intervenors participating in this hearing, it was possible to complete the hearing of the evidence called by the Local Authority in 4 weeks rather than the 6 originally expected. 5.When referring to the respondents and intervenors in this judgment, I shall refer to them collectively as ‘the Respondents’.