J (Children)

Care proceedings are concerned primarily with the welfare of children who have suffered, or are likely to suffer, significant harm. They are not intended to provide parents with another opportunity to remedy established failures in parenting after the evidence has shown that the children cannot safely remain in their care. Where the threshold is satisfied on the likelihood of significant harm, care orders may properly be made with a plan for adoption. An application for permission to appeal will be refused where the proposed appeal has no realistic prospect of displacing those findings.

Mr and Mrs J applied for permission to appeal against care orders made by His Honour Judge Hughes at Llangefni County Court on 3 August 2006 concerning their two young children. The orders provided for the children to be placed for adoption outside the family.

The lower court had considered extensive evidence from earlier care proceedings involving the parents’ other children and found no improvement in their parenting capacity. The parents were not represented at the permission hearing because they could not fund the journey to London. The Court of Appeal considered the papers and determined the application in their absence.

1. The application for permission to appeal was refused because it had no prospect of success.
2. The earlier proceedings contained overwhelming evidence that the parents were unable to care for children. The evidence in the present proceedings showed no progress in their parenting capacity.
3. The welfare focus of care proceedings meant that the court was required to consider the interests of children who had suffered, or were likely to suffer, significant harm. The proceedings were not a means of giving parents another chance to correct past childcare failures.
4. The threshold criteria were properly found satisfied on the basis of the likelihood of significant harm. The making of care orders, with a view to adoption, was therefore justified by the children’s welfare.

A transcript was directed at public expense and was to be sent to the parents.

• Court of Appeal (Civil Division): Permission to appeal from the care orders was refused.
• Rhyll County Court: His Honour Judge Hughes made care orders on 3 August 2006, with a plan for the children to be placed for adoption outside the family.