FK v ML (Child's Objections)

Alistair Perkins (instructed by Covent Garden Family Law) for the Applicant father Victoria Miller (instructed by Creighton and Partners) for the First Respondent mother Jason Green ( and, on 11 March 2015, Mehvish Chaudhry) (instructed by Dawson Cornwell) for the Second Respondent minor by his solicitor guardian Katherine Res Pritchard Hearing dates: 22 and 23 February and 11 March 2016 ____________________

A high level of intervention over the years has not brought about any significant change.

She has still inadequate insight into the causes of the children's disturbance and the risks they have faced.

She is not able to help either child understand why their lives have been disrupted because she is unable or unwilling to take responsibility herself and tends to blame F, the local authority or innate problems in the children. I accept the advice [of one of the expert witnesses] that she needs to accept responsibility for her actions. She has begun to do this by engaging with psychotherapy and alcohol dependency treatment, but still has a long way to go.

While she has shown some awareness of her problems in that engagement with therapeutic services, in my judgment she is unlikely to change sufficiently in a timescale which would meet the children's pressing needs.