Lancashire County Council v B
The threshold for a care order can be satisfied where the child's injuries were caused by either a parent or another carer, even though the court cannot identify which.
Facts
A baby girl, A, suffered serious injuries caused by shaking. She was cared for by her parents and by a childminder, who also looked after her own child, B. The judge could not decide whether the parents or the childminder had caused the injuries. The local authority applied for care orders in respect of both A and B. The question was whether the threshold was satisfied for A, although it was not possible to say who had caused the injuries.
Legal principle
The House of Lords held that the threshold was satisfied in respect of A. Lord Nicholls said that the requirement in section 31(2)(b) of the Children Act 1989 that the harm be attributable to the care given to the child, or likely to be given if the order were not made, not being what it would be reasonable to expect a parent to give, included harm caused by any of the child's carers, where the court could not identify which one. Otherwise, a child who had been seriously injured might be left unprotected. However, the threshold was not satisfied in respect of B, because there was no finding that her mother, the childminder, had caused the injuries.
Related cases on care proceedings and adoption
- Re A (A Child) [2015] EWFC 11, [2016] 1 FLR 1
- Re B (A Child) (Care Proceedings: Threshold Criteria) [2013] UKSC 33, [2013] 1 WLR 1911
- Re B (Children) (Care Proceedings: Standard of Proof) [2008] UKHL 35, [2009] 1 AC 11
- Re B-S (Children) [2013] EWCA Civ 1146, [2014] 1 WLR 563
- Re G (A Child) (Interim Care Order: Residential Assessment) [2005] UKHL 68, [2006] 1 AC 576
- Re H (Minors) (Sexual Abuse: Standard of Proof) [1996] AC 563
- Re J (Children) (Care Proceedings: Threshold Criteria) [2013] UKSC 9, [2013] 1 AC 680
- Re L (Care: Threshold Criteria) [2007] 1 FLR 2050
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