R (G) v HCC; Admin Court 20th December 2018
Richard represented the claimant whose children had been placed with prospective adopters by the defendant local authority in circumstances that were considered to be unfair. The family court had previously granted the defendant placement orders in respect of the children. The claimant complained that the defendant had not adequately informed her or her legal advisers that the placement of the children with the prospective adopters was about to be effected contrary to the guidance given in R (L) v Essex County Council [2017] EWHC 1041 and the 2017 Coram BAAF “Practice note 67: Local authorities’ duty of fairness towards a parent seeking to revoke a placement order”.
Richard persuaded the court to grant the claimant an extension of time to make the application for judicial review (she was out of time by 2 months) and grant substantive relief in the form an order quashing the defendant’s decision to place the children with prospective adopters together with declarations that the defendant had acted unlawfully and in breach of the claimant’s article 8 ECHR right in placing the children with prospective adopters without adequately notifying or informing the claimant or her legal advisers of the intended placement.
