A Local Authority v B, H and I (Sibling as carer or adoption) (rev 1)

Jessica Habel (instructed by the Local Authority Legal Services ) for the Applicant

This judgment is anonymised in accordance with the Practice Guidance issued in December.�� The children I am concerned with are three of a sibling group of nine.� I will refer to the children in order of age by the initials A to I to avoid jigsaw identification of the parties and family. �The three children subject of this judgment are B aged 17, H 4� and I, 22 months.�� �The relatives I will describe as the mother, grandparents (meaning the maternal grandparents unless indicated otherwise) and the wide extended family of uncles and aunts, described here as uncle J and so on.

I have not identified the local authority or any of the professionals on the basis there is no need to do so.

Because the most important audience for this judgment is the family (in the widest sense) and, in due course, H and I, I have prepared an easy read version of the reasons for my decision, an anonymised version of which is at the end of this judgment. ��An un-anonymised version will be made available to the family.

In these care proceedings the options for the care of the two youngest girls of a group of 9 siblings, H aged 4� years and I aged 22 months, are care by their 17 year-old sister B, supported by the wider family, or placement for adoption.���