X (care and placement orders), Re

Miss Kate Ferguson for A County Council Mr Paul Froud instructed by Brethertons for the First Respondent mother Ms Jennifer Kotilaine instructed by Oxford Law Group for the child ____________________

'� adoption of a child against her parents' wishes should only be contemplated as a last resort � when all else fails. Although the child's interests in an adoption case are 'paramount' (in the UK legislation and under article 21 of UNCRC) a court must never lose sight of the fact that those interests include being brought up by her natural family, ideally her natural parents, or at least one of them.'

'Intervention in the family must be proportionate, but the aim should be to reunite the family where the circumstances enable that, and the effort should be devoted towards that end. Cutting off all contact and ending the relationship between the child and their family is only justified by the overriding necessity of the interests of the child.'

a) X's mother has neglected her basic needs. X was seen on occasions to be grubby and unwashed, the home conditions were poor, she was exposed to passive smoking (for example there is a record from the police that the mother was asked to stop smoking when X was sitting on her lap and refused). X's diet was unhealthy and irregular, and when X first went into care her vocabulary was limited to around two words.

b) X has been exposed to her mother's long-standing drug and alcohol abuse. The mother frankly admitted in Court that while she was about to start a treatment programme at the moment she currently takes heroin daily and cocaine weekly;