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	England and Wales Court of Appeal (Civil Division) Decisions
You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> England and Wales Court of Appeal (Civil Division) Decisions >> H (Children) [2009] EWCA Civ 1264 (29 October 2009) URL: http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2009/1264.html Cite as: [2009] EWCA Civ 1264

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IN THE SUPREME COURT OF JUDICATURE
COURT OF APPEAL (CIVIL DIVISION)
ON APPEAL FROM TAUNTON COUNTY COURT
(HIS HONOUR JUDGE O'MALLEY)

		Royal Courts of Justice Strand, London, WC2A 2LL
		29th October 2009

Lord Justice Wall:

1. This is a renewed application for permission to appeal against an order made by HHJ O'Malley, sitting in the Taunton County Court on 16 July 2009. He refused an application by the parents of two small boys for leave to revoke placement orders which had been made in relation to the boys, who are in the care of the local authority. What troubles me about the case is that the parents, who were represented at the time, appeared expecting a half-hour directions appointment only to find the judge took the view the whole case should be dealt with then and there, which he proceeded to do. The parents, both of whom are former drug addicts, complain that this is unfair; that they are now clean; they want to be reunited with their two boys; they have since had a little girl, who is the subject of care proceedings, and they want their family together. They say that the change in their circumstances (i.e. them being clean) is such that the judge should have dealt with the case on the merits and revoked the order.
2. This is a very difficult application to mount for them because the care orders and the placement orders were made almost a year ago. The children have been prepared for adoption and introduced to prospective adopters and of course time does not stand still for small children. I quite understand, from the adults' point of view, that they feel bereft without their children, but they have not now seen their two boys I think for some months. And although the parents feel passionately that the two boys will still know who they are and love them and want them to be their parents, the two boys nonetheless have been on a different course now for some months.
3. However, I remain troubled about the case and I do not think it is one that I should deal with by myself. I think it should be heard by a full court, and what I propose to do is to adjourn the application for permission to be heard by a court as soon as possible. If that means that it is only two judges, so be it. It will be on notice to the local authority, and the local authority will then no doubt put its side of the story and explain why the judge was entitled to do what he did, and the case can then be decided by, as I say, the full court.
4. So I propose to adjourn the application for permission to be heard as soon as possible, with the appeal to follow if permission is granted. It will be heard here in this building. You will be notified of the date when it is going to be heard, and I will do my best to ensure it is heard as swiftly as possible. There are still proceedings going on in relation to your daughter, as I understand it, and you must obviously continue to contest those. It is not for me to advise you about those. But I think the best I can do for you this afternoon is, as I say, to adjourn the application for permission.
5. This court has very limited powers. People think that the Court of Appeal can do what it likes, but it cannot. The Court of Appeal is very limited in what it can do. It looks at what the judge did. That is what troubles me. The judge would say, no doubt, that it was urgent and that he had to deal with it quickly, that he had a wide discretion to deal with these children cases and he would deal with it in his own way; and he has done it. This court will have to decide whether he is right or not, whether he was entitled to do that. So that is why it will normally be heard by two or three judges, instead of just by me. So it will be heard here as soon as it can be. The case will be heard for two hours.

Order: Application adjourned.