Case No. ZE20C00658

[2016] EWCA Civ 1098).38.I have been provided with core bundles containing statements, reports, ancillary documents, and key documents from the previous proceedings. I have also benefitted from position statements and skeleton arguments prepared by counsel. I have heard oral evidence from Ms Watts, Dr Heap, Dr Lamb and Dr McDermott. I have not had to hear oral evidence from the social work team, M or the Children's Guardian in the circumstances of the current agreement on the principal issues in the case.39.WELFARE CHECKLIST CONCLUSIONS40.I have read analyses by the social worker and Children's Guardian in this case and been updated as to their detailed positions and opinions. I have found them helpful and insightful, and I accept their opinions and recommendations.41.I have seen lovely descriptions of a delightful little boy who is lively and well, meeting his developmental milestones and into everything. I have seen some beautiful photos. I note the warm and loving relationship that he has with M, and how he seeks her out for comfort and care. I note that she has cared for him since birth and has met all his practical needs to a high standard, and has been noted to do so with warmth and love, and I am certain that he would wish to continue to be cared for by her.42.X is almost 2 years old. He is a little boy of dual heritage: white British and black British. He has six full siblings, some of whom are in care, and an adult half-sibling. He has the typical dependency needs of a little boy of his age. Unlike his older siblings he has not experienced damaging trauma or neglect. He will need enhanced support in terms of his relationships with his older siblings, and monitoring of his M’s ongoing abilities to meet his needs.43.The social worker’s concluding statement thoughtfully sets out areas of strength and vulnerability, notes efforts that M is successfully making and areas where she is in need of further support. I note that M has been doing her very best to work hard in meeting the expectations of professionals, and to meet X’s needs and develop her own abilities to enable her to continue meeting those needs, and to seek appropriate help and support along the way. It will be important that she continues to make the right choices, attend all the appointments, seek out and accept any further help and avoid falling back into old patterns. Importantly, she has shown during the recent course of these proceedings this summer that she can undertake therapeutic work alongside maintaining good enough care for X. She has shown she can work well with her advocate, her family support worker, her mental health professional, her GP, her therapist and the social worker.44.Pressures exist in terms of the relationships with and between M’s older children and wider family. This is an area in which M has been seen to struggle with conflicting obligations and feeling torn in terms of meeting X’s needs but managing her older children’s issues – for example, a recent move of her oldest daughter into M’s home, and which is identified as an anxiety and stressor for M. The social worker has identified that M has been appropriately open and accepting of advice. This will require careful management and support, with the assistance available under the Supervision Order, to help M prioritise X’s care and her own mental well-being and capabilities.45.M has avoided abusive intimate relationships, but F will be released in due course and there are the anticipated problems from F’s current partner. She has also worked hard to avoid old friendship groups and to develop new relationships via baby groups and appropriate activities given that her support network is currently small and her move into the community has been to a new area. The social worker confirms that M shares information and seeks support appropriately, but that this will be an area of ongoing support and monitoring.46.The main concern and her biggest challenge is in continuing to maintain and develop her emotional stability, her confidence and her ability to trust others particularly professionals now that she is re-established in the community. Continuing along this path will better enable her to continue to prioritise X, to attune well to him and his needs, and to make better choices to meet her own emotional needs and manage her relationships. It is clear that M is compliant with her treatment and therapy and seeks appropriate mental health support which the social worker intends to follow through with her.47.I am sure she is keen to do the right thing and continue her progress and is equally keenly aware of what might happen if she does not. I am satisfied that her motivation and engagement is genuine, and the steps she has been taking have clearly been bearing fruit. These are opinions held by the professionals in the case that have developed over time and experience of working with M.48.I have seen a final care plan, bearing agreed amendments suggested by the Children's Guardian and M. I am satisfied that the care plan is appropriate and helpful. It provides for a wide range of advice, assistance and befriending of this family. M and X will be supported by a family support worker, Schema therapy and Theraplay work, as has been advised by the experts. Contact with siblings is appropriately included as and will require sensitive management. Contact with F is proposed at twice yearly once risk assessed, albeit he is not currently wishing to have contact. This will all be kept under regular review. I have been impressed at the social work team’s ability to adapt and look afresh at each stage of this difficult case and I am confident that they will do their best to continue to support X and to support M in caring for him. 49.There are no doubt risks associated with this plan, and it will be harmful for X to be exposed to any significant deterioration in his M’s abilities to meet and prioritise his needs. However, he will undoubtedly benefit from being brought up by his own mother so long as she can maintain the progress and engagement she has shown in these proceedings. The effect of granting the Supervision Order with this plan will be to provide X with support to remain well and safely cared for by his M, and to minimise the identified risks. It provides a statutory and social work framework for that advice, support and assistance, from which X and M have already begun to benefit, alongside ongoing monitoring and review.50.I have considered other orders, and in particular a Special Guardianship Order with his paternal aunt, a care order or making no order. The Special Guardianship assessment was positive, but no party is advocating that this is now the right course for X. He currently has no active relationship with his paternal aunt, and there are historic tensions between her and M and between her and some of X’s older siblings whom she cared for. I note that it would prevent X being brought up in foster care and would permit family links to be maintained, albeit not without friction and difficulty. His attachments would be disrupted and would have to be refocussed on an unknown family member. A care order would grant the LA parental responsibility, but with X living at home and where M is currently co-operative and welcoming of social work support and input. There would be considerable local authority input, albeit that is already anticipated under the Supervision Order, but with the added tension of shared parental responsibility and higher intervention under statutory frameworks that run beyond that which is considered necessary. Neither of these orders appear to be better suited to meeting X’s needs than the agreed plan. The former would not meet X’s emotional needs, and the latter represents too heavy and unjustified an intervention in the current circumstances.51.To make no order would leave X inadequately supported by the absence of a support plan and the services identified in that plan, and where the history clearly poses risks and concerns that require close help, support, advice and monitoring. It would be harmful to X not to grant the Supervision Order that underpins the important provisions set out in the plan, and it is clearly in his interests to do so and appropriate to put as much as possible in place to support M’s care of him. This will also enable M to be assisted in dealing with any challenges to her progress, and with the additional complications that might arise in the wider family and when F is released. A period of 12 months is the longest period that can be granted at this stage and is clearly appropriate in the circumstances of this family.52.Accordingly, this interference with each family member’s ECHR Article 8 rights to respect for their privacy and family life is necessary and proportionate bearing in mind the history, the circumstances of this case and X’s overall welfare interests.HHJ LAZARUS5.10.221 University of Glasgow - Schools - School of Health & Wellbeing - Research - Mental Health and Wellbeing - Research - Research projects - The BeST? Services Trial2 media.gla.ac.uk/web/researchinstitutes/IHW/BeST_Services_Trial_social_media_clip_FULL_HD.mp43 New Orleans intervention model: early implementation - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)4 The many faces of the Still-Face Paradigm: A review and meta-analysis | Request PDF (researchgate.net