Re R (a child) (care order: threshold criteria)

The child, R, aged eight months, was taken into care of the claimant local authority three days after her birth. R had a half-sister, O, aged two, who had been taken into care of the authority when she was two months old. The care proceedings in respect of R and O were consolidated and a care plan was produced by the authority that recommended that the children should be placed for adoption.

The children's guardian supported the care plans. The mother conceded, that in respect of O, the threshold set by section 31(2) of the Children Act 1989 had been crossed on the basis that she was likely to suffer significant emotional and physical harm.

In relation to R, the mother and R's father made no concession about the threshold and actively argued that it had not been crossed.

The judge found that the mother's lifestyle between the date of O's birth and the date when she had been taken into care had been “chaotic”, however, he stated that the removal of O from the mother's care had affected her to such an extent that she had subsequently reformed her life.