FD24P00534 - [2025] EWHC 717 (Fam)

Mrs Justice Judd :

This is a fact finding hearing in proceedings concerning three children, who are aged 8, 7 and 3. I will call them R, S and E. The parents, who are from the Cheredi Jewish community, were married when they were teenagers. The marriage was arranged and they only met very shortly beforehand. The mother was born and brought up in Israel and the father, though he was born in Israel, was brought up here. The two oldest girls were born in Israel and the youngest in England.

Both parties agree that the marriage was not a happy one. The father said that the mother did not do her fair share of domestic tasks, that the children were neglected and the house dirty. The mother says that the father was abusive to her and the children. I will set out the details of that later.

Things came to a head in June 2024 when the mother said she wished to go to Israel, very shortly after they had all returned from a family visit. The mother left England without the children and did not return for three months. During that time the father took the children and went to live with his parents so that they could help him.

The mother returned to England in September 2024, together with her father. She did not immediately inform the father that she had returned, but it is a small community and he soon found out. The mother contacted the paternal family through an intermediary, and said that she wished to resume care of the children. The children were returned to her at the family home, with the father remaining with his parents.

When the mother returned to England she sought assistance from Jewish Women’s Aid (JWA) and made allegations that he had abused the children. JWA contacted the local authority and a section 47 investigation was commenced. The children stopped having contact with their father. The local authority investigated but found the allegations to unsubstantiated and closed the case, informing the mother and father of this on 28^th October 2024.

After this, the father became concerned that the children were not at school, and he said that the mother’s family were evasive about where she and the children were. He, therefore, applied for location and passport orders to prevent the children being removed to Israel.

Following the commencement of the proceedings the mother went to the police and made more allegations, which related not only to the children but herself as well. The children were seen again. Both parents were interviewed, and so was the oldest child, R.

During the course of the investigation the children have been living with the mother and having supervised contact with the father.