The High Court has ruled that courts in England and Wales are better placed to determine the future care status of a baby born in Waterford in October 2014, and granted a motion by the Child and Family Agency seeking that result.
In a judgment delivered on 5 March 2015, Ms Justice Bronagh O’Hanlon found the child, identified as I.H., had a particular connection with the UK under Article 15 of the Brussels II bis Regulation. She also found that hearing the care-status proceedings there was in the child’s interests. The court did not decide the child’s substantive care status. It granted the relief sought and said it would hear further submissions on the form of the order.
The Agency argued that English authorities and health professionals had extensive, multidisciplinary involvement with the family. The mother’s history included contact with care authorities in three UK local areas, and the child’s older brother had been taken into care in England in 2012. The court said the mother disputed several social-services reports and identified another report she said was relevant. It concluded that the evidence would need to be tested and witnesses could be compelled in England.
The parents had lived in England until shortly before the birth. The mother said she travelled to Ireland partly to avoid the unborn child being taken into care in England; the judgment records that this was also confirmed to the court by counsel. She said she and her husband were living in a rented flat in Waterford, and described steps she had taken to seek counselling and psychiatric services. The court noted that the basis of the tenancy had not been set out.
The parents opposed transfer and said they did not intend to return to England and Wales. Their submissions included that they had entered and lived in Ireland lawfully, had cooperated with Waterford social services, and that English authorities had not obtained a care order before they left. The judge rejected their arguments.
The court relied on a Supreme Court decision concerning Article 15 and a child born in Ireland to a British mother, finding that the child’s UK connection was established. It said Article 15’s best-interests test concerned the appropriate forum, rather than deciding the substantive welfare question. The judgment does not specify the final form of the order, which was left for further submissions.