Family Court judge writes version of judgment for party with learning disabilities

A Family Court judge has handed down a public law childcare judgment both in conventional form and in a version intended to be grasped by someone with learning disabilities.

In L (special guardianship order), Re [2019] EWFC B7 the latter version was read out in court and given to the parties. The longer written judgment was also given to the parties.

HHJ Vincent made a special guardianship order despite admitting that this would cause distress to the birth mother of the child concerned.

Oxfordshire County Council had applied to have child L made the subject of special guardianship order on the grounds that both social workers and L’s guardian felt the mother and her current partner would not be able to care for him.

In her ruling, the judge said: “I have had regard to all the evidence in the case and I am satisfied to the standard of a balance of probabilities that each of the facts relied upon in the local authority's threshold document are proved.”

She said the mother was “an extremely vulnerable young woman with a very low IQ, a deep attachment insecurity, some executive functioning difficulties, visuospatial difficulties and incoordination contributing to her delay in literacy and numeracy”, who needed support for her own needs including cooking and shopping and who was prone to place herself in risky situations.

The judge said the mother “loves her son and wants only the best for him, but because of the factors identified above, she does nevertheless present as someone who is not able to keep him safe from harm if she were to be caring for him without support.”

She said the mother’s relationship with her partner was “more volatile than they suggest and L would be at risk of harm if exposed to shouting and his mother's distress and fear, and further risk of harm from his mother's vulnerabilities and risky individuals preying on her”.

Special guardianship was appropriate as it would enable L to maintain links with his birth parents but looked after by a guardian who was a family member.

Mark Smulian