A Health And Social Care Trust v M & Anor

[1]������� The names of the parties in this case have been anonymised in order to protect the child who is the subject of the proceedings.� Nothing must be published or reported which directly or indirectly leads to the identity of the child being revealed.

[2]����� The Applicant Trust seeks a Full Care Order in respect of the child, who was removed from his parents when he was six weeks old. He is now two years and five months old.

[3] ������ The Respondents (referred to above as M for �Mum� and D for �Dad�) are the biological parents of the child and his father is named on his birth certificate. They lived together in a property of which the father had been the tenant prior to their cohabitation and during their relationship the brother of the child�s mother also shared the house and its outgoings. He and the toddler�s mother continue to occupy that property, albeit the child�s parents separated in early 2018. The couple were together for eighteen months before their son was born.

[4] ������ When the baby was five weeks old on 24 October 2016 the Respondent father had been in charge of the baby downstairs whilst the Respondent mother slept upstairs. In the morning the father advised the mother that the baby had a �floppy episode� during the night. She telephoned her GP who advised they take the baby directly to the local hospital. The baby was detained until evening and released with advice that the volume of feeds should be decreased and their frequency increased.

[7] ������ Interim Care Orders were granted and continuously renewed. The baby was discharged from hospital into foster care and has made a remarkable recovery. No decision has been made in respect of any potential criminal charges and, given the child�s age, further delay is inappropriate. There appears to have been limited Care Planning to date and time is clearly of the essence.