Case No. EWFC-63

35.One of the matters that I must obviously consider carefully, particularly given the difficulties that the mother has with her cognitive functioning, is the extent to which she has been assisted by the local authority and other agencies in relation to her parenting.36.In the parenting assessment that was carried out in 2017, it is clearly set out that at that point the mother has done a number of courses such as the Triple P parenting course. She has subsequently repeated more courses. The independent social work assessment carried out for this hearing makes it clear that the mother can demonstrate a great deal of knowledge in respect of parenting domains, but she does not put that knowledge into practice to the detriment of the children. 37.At paragraph 13.12 of the independent social work assessment she sets out as follows:“[M] has completed a significant amount of teaching programmes and received a significantamount of support and advice in respect of her parenting and how to care for her children. Yetdespite the levels of support [M] still believes she requires further and additional teaching.[M] throughout the assessment has been able to demonstrate she has gained some knowledgefrom these programmes, yet the changes have not been seen and are minimal. [M] will say itis because she is not able to remember all the advice and learning and whilst this may be true insome areas that would not explain why she has the knowledge. [M] does not appear to consistently follow through with the teaching she has learnt and struggles to transfer the teachinginto practice. Unfortunately, [M] also believes that [H]’s behavioural difficulties are moreorganic and that it is [H] that needs to change not how [M] reacts to [H]’s behaviours.[M] struggles to appreciate how [H]’s lived experiences have a significant impact on herbehaviours and emotional wellbeing. [H] has suffered from at least seven of the top ten adversechildhood experiences and she is only ten years of age. Despite the teaching programmes [M]has had she is still exposing her daughter to adverse childhood experiences which will have asignificant detriment to [H] as an adult”38.Sadly, the evidence in relation to the impact upon H is simply overwhelming. She is clearly an extremely confused and distressed little girl. The mother’s own oral evidence in the hearing is that H is shouting and screaming and kicking at her mother every day. The mother said that H was ‘always screaming and shouting at me, kicking the doors, and throwing things and she can bruise me as well’. The mother asserts that H also screams in her sleep.39.Despite all the work and assistance offered to the mother and the involvement of social care for many years, the picture now in relation to H is extremely worrying. The mother still asserts that many of the problems lie with H, and not with her own parenting. In her oral evidence she said that she had done the Triple P parenting course three times, and said it did not work. She said that H is very ‘disobedient’ and does not like listening to any instructions. She said nothing she tries has any effect. She accepted this appeared to be an endless treadmill, and when she was asked what would bring it to an end she responded ‘I don’t know, I have done everything I can do’. The mother was then asked about the impact upon H of going into foster care, and it was suggested to her that that was the necessary change. She responded that she did not know what would happen if H had some time away from her and then said ‘I would like to think she will spiral out of control, she feels safe and happy with me’. Whilst I accept the mother does not actually wish H any harm, that was illustrative of the mothers thinking. 40.It is a notable and unusual feature of this case, that when the guardian spoke to H about the possibility of her going to live in foster care, the guardian’s overall conclusion was that H was expressing ‘relief and happiness that her safety and care is now being considered’. Although H had told the guardian she loved her mummy, and that she wanted her mummy to stay with her forever, she had engaged excitedly in discussions about how foster care would work, and when she returned to her school class she told them all about it with a smile on her face.