![No: FD24P00469 - [2025] EWHC 799 (Fam)](https://backend.juristeca.com/files/emisores/logo_0FrGysm.png){kind=logo}
The Mother’s Mental Health
The Mother’s Mental Health
I turn now to consider the evidence that has been presented in relation to the mother’s mental health. In this regard I have the benefit of the report of Dr McDermott dated 26 March 2025. The key parts of Dr McDermott’s conclusions are as follows:
“[The mother] has a complex and difficult background history. Based on her given history, she has shown resilience, determination, generosity, liveliness, competence and has developed some sense of acceptance/forgiveness towards her parents and family which is consistent with a maturity (emotional) not always achieved in the context of unfavourable upbringings. At the time of assessment she reported; feeling overwhelmed, needing help, on some days feeling she can't cope, and that she is not being listened to. Her history and presentation would, according to the International Classification of Diseases (ICD11), be consistent with a diagnosis of; (i) 6B43 Adjustment Disorder and (ii) 6C41.11 Harmful pattern of use of cannabis, continuous.”
The father’s application for a return order has “triggered a shocked and anxiously stressed response in [the mother]. The hacking of her e-mail and Facebook accounts, the anonymous reports to social services and to the police, and the contacts from the Australian and English Benefits Agencies, triggered an intensification of her anxiousness and fearfulness in respect of [the father], because she believes “100%” that he is, probably indirectly, responsible for each of those happenings.”
The mother’s fearfulness “extends to a dread of how it would be to have to return to Australia, without a place to live, without money, without a job, without childcare, and without any family to hand for support. Further, she fears that [the father] would not abide by the rules of any Court Order, and she said she has fears of him “stabbing me, or killing me”.”
The mother’s adjustment disorder has been “precipitated, aggravated, perpetuated, and intensified by the above series of events over the last six months.”
“Each of these upsetting and critical intrusions into her life have induced, not surprisingly, a sense of a lack of privacy, and safety in her ordinary life. The matter is, more likely than not, aggravated by [the mother’s] strong belief that the person behind each of these intrusions, probably indirectly, is [the father]. Whoever the perpetrator may be, the fact remains that these experiences have been seriously detrimental to the stability of [the mother’s] anxiously disordered mental health, and she has not recovered from them.”
The mother “is particularly supported by her oldest sister... and by her father, both of whom live locally, are in regular telephone and face-to-face social contact, and offer respite care for [D]. Additionally, [the mother] has three, or four, close friends who are also single parents, who live close by, are aware of her predicament, and are available “to hang out with,” together with the children.
The mother has experienced transient episodes of feeling suicidal.
“When under great stress and anxiously overwhelmed [the mother] is aware that she has a marked tendency to withdraw and hide, and in so doing she does not make full use of the supports that could be available to her.”
“It is inconceivable to [the mother] that she would be separated from [D]. She is fearful; of her own mental health deteriorating, of her parenting of [D] suffering as a consequence, and fearful for her mortal safety in the event of she and [D] returning to Australia. She is fearful that [the father] – in blaming her for his lack of contact with [D] – could “stab or kill her.” She does not trust that [the father] would abide by Court Orders.”
“In the event of [the mother] having to return to Australia, more likely than not, her currently fragile state of mental health would suffer a significant deterioration, and her Adjustment disorder could, more likely than not, develop into a clinical depression of at least moderate degree.”
“In the event of a significant deterioration in [the mother’s] mental health, and the development of a state of clinical depression her parenting functioning could be negatively impacted in the following ways;
[a] Her low / depressed mood would, more likely than not, impact her emotional responsiveness would be likely to be reduced, she might be irritable, her energy levels and motivation could be lowered, and her general level of functioning and reactivity could be reduced.
[b] [The mother] being taken up with / taken over by their own intense, overwhelming emotional states of anxiety and fearfulness would, more likely than not, negatively impact her available mental space to attend to / prioritise [D’s] needs.
[c] There could well be an increase in [the mother’s] suicidal states of mind, were she to return to Australia. Such states of mind in a parent, more likely than not, are disturbing, frightening, and more likely than not hinder development in a child.”
“Based on [the mother’s] presentation, and if there were not realistically, readily available; adequate housing, adequate financial resources to ensure adequate food, travel costs, and ordinary services (e.g. gas and electricity), and a nursery placement for [D], more likely than not, [the mother’s] mental health would further deteriorate, and probably quite rapidly.”
The mother told Dr McDermott that she would not feel safe in Australia and that she would not have support there. She also told Dr McDermott that in the light of the recent interventions she no longer felt safe in England and she had taken steps to protect her privacy such as putting Blue Tac over the spy hole on her front door and Sellotaping shut her letterbox at night.
She described her mood to Dr McDermott as “generally very up-and down and on some days I feel really bad, and the next day I can be fine. It waxes and wanes. I cry, when I really feel shit”, and Dr McDermott described the mother as presenting “as rather intrusively preoccupied with her worries about her safety and her distress about her feared loss of [D]”.
Dr McDermott was challenged in cross-examination by Mr Crosthwaite. He sought to explore with Dr McDermott whether her diagnosis would be affected if the mother had been exaggerating her evidence. Dr McDermott considered that the mother had been honest with her and had tried to give a fair account of her relationship with the father, for example accepting that they had both argued a lot and had perhaps both been as difficult to live with as each other. Dr McDermott explained that had she considered the account provided by the mother in her interviews not to be credible she would have commented upon this in her report.
Dr McDermott made the point that even if the recent interventions from the authorities in the UK and Australia had not been prompted by the father, what was important was their impact on the mother’s mental health which had increased her anxiety.
Other points put to Dr McDermott by Mr Crosthwaite included:
A reference in Dr McDermott’s report to the mother being prescribed an antidepressant in March 2024 was not borne out by the disclosed medical records. Dr McDermott could not immediately identify where she had obtained this information, but considered that it would have come from the records provided to her. It appears that the GP records provided to Dr McDermott were more extensive than those contained in the hearing bundle.
An inconsistency as to whether the mother had reported thoughts of suicide to a GP on 28 February 2025. The GP notes record that no self-harm thoughts were expressed. Dr McDermott took the view that this was a matter on which it was important for the mother to have her voice heard.
Asked about previous instances of anxiety disclosed in the mother’s Australian medical records and the fact that she appeared to have responded well to counselling at that time, Dr McDermott commented that the mother was not on those occasions suffering from an adjustment disorder. Dr McDermott explained that everybody has a point beyond which they cannot manage stress. It was previously the case that the mother was able to manage stress, however in Dr McDermott’s view the mother has now reached the point where she cannot.
In her interview with Dr McDermott, the mother had accepted that she was a regular cannabis user smoking one joint a night (although she stated that she did not smoke it in front of D). Mr Crosthwaite asked Dr McDermott about the mother’s cannabis use and the extent to which this may impact on her mental health. Dr McDermott’s evidence was less helpful on this point, in that she admitted that she did not have much expertise in relation to substance abuse, and was unaware of academic research in this area. However, she thought that if the use of cannabis was helping the mother to manage her anxiety it may possible be having a protective effect.
Dr McDermott indicated that she considered that it was more likely than not that a return would lead to the mother developing a depression, and that was more likely than not to have an effect on her parenting, leading to her becoming less available, less responsive and less kind to [D]. Her view was that if a parent is significantly depressed the child will notice and this will have an impact on the child.
Asked questions by Mr Evans, Dr McDermott opined that she considered that it would be “crucial” for the mother to have immediate support upon a return to Australia and that any gap in the provision of support would risk matters deteriorating. Dr McDermott could not comment in any detail on the support that would be provided to the mother in Australia. She did however consider that prolonged uncertainty caused by further legal proceedings would also pose a significant risk to the mother’s mental health.
I have some concerns about Dr McDermott’s report. I note that she records a fear on behalf of the mother than the father will stab or kill her, which does not appear to have a basis in the father’s behaviour to date. I am also concerned by Dr McDermott’s lack of knowledge about the impact of the mother’s cannabis use on her mental health issues. Nonetheless taking the report as a whole, I consider that I must accept the main thrust of Dr McDermott’s evidence. She did not consider that the mother had exaggerated her presentation, and her view was that the mother genuinely held the fears that she had outlined in her interviews. Nor was Dr McDermott swayed in her conclusions by Mr Crosthwaite’s challenge in cross-examination and she remained clear that a return to Australia would have a negative impact on the mother’s mental health and upon her consequent ability to care for D.
I have concluded that even if the mother’s cannabis use were to be a contributory factor to her current adjustment disorder (and I have no evidence either way on this point), I should nevertheless accept Dr McDermott’s conclusions that:
The mother is suffering from an adjustment disorder;
It is more likely than not that a forced return would cause a significant deterioration in her mental health, and that on the balance of probabilities she would develop a clinical depression of at least a moderate degree.
Were she to do so, her functioning as a parent would be negatively impacted by depressed mood, preoccupation with her own emotional state and potential suicidal thoughts.
This in turn would be likely to affect D as she would be less available and less responsive as a parent.
That if appropriate resources (adequate housing and financial support) were not readily available the mother’s mental health would further deteriorate.
That should a return be ordered it is crucial that immediate support should be available to the mother.