The High Court has decided to request that the courts of England and Wales assume jurisdiction in care proceedings concerning H.J.J., a child who was 11 months old when the application was heard. The judgment does not say that the requested court accepted jurisdiction or that the Irish proceedings were transferred.
The Health Service Executive (HSE) brought the application under Article 15 of Council Regulation 2201/2003. Mr Justice Birmingham delivered judgment on 2 May 2013. He concluded that the child had a particular connection to England and Wales through British nationality and the habitual residence of both parents. He also noted that the child, born in Ireland to British citizen parents, was entitled to Irish citizenship.
The application concerned proceedings for placing the child in public care. An emergency care order was made by Sligo District Court the day after the child’s birth in May 2012, followed by an interim care order. That order had been extended several times and remained in force when the High Court considered the application. The judgment did not determine the child’s long-term placement.
The court considered that professionals and family members relevant to assessing possible carers were in Britain, and that detailed information and assessments from earlier proceedings involving the child’s half-siblings were available there. The judge also noted the possibility of future contact with the child’s half-siblings and extended family. He concluded that the English and Welsh courts were better placed to consider the child’s welfare and that transfer was in the child’s best interests.
The judgment recounts concerns raised by English and Welsh social services before the child’s birth, including domestic violence, substance misuse and the parents’ circumstances. These were reported concerns and background to the application, not findings made by the High Court about the parents in this judgment.
The judge said he was “minded to make a request” for the other courts to assume jurisdiction. He proposed discussing how to communicate it through the international judicial network and said he would ask the HSE to undertake to pursue the request and seek directions in the requested state. Under the procedure set out in the judgment, the Irish court would decline jurisdiction if the other court accepted within six weeks; otherwise, the Irish court would continue exercising jurisdiction. The judgment records no acceptance or later determination.