P v M & Ors

This judgment was handed down remotely at 10.30am on 20 th December 2023 by circulation to the parties or their representatives by e-mail and by release to the National Archives.

This judgment was delivered in private.�� The judge has given leave for this version of the judgment to be published on condition that (irrespective of what is contained in the judgment) in any published version of the judgment the anonymity of the children and members of their family must be strictly preserved.�� All persons, including representatives of the media, must ensure that this condition is strictly complied with.�� Failure to do so will be a contempt of court.

                  This is an application by the father for child arrangements orders with respect to two children, S and A who are of secondary school age.

                  The parties began their relationship when they met abroad in 2008. The father is from Eastern Europe �and the mother is British. They have never married.� They lived together in the West Country until their separation when the youngest child was only two.� The father moved to live abroad where he has remained ever since, working for the an international organisation.

                  At a subsequent welfare hearing the judge made orders for contact, noting that the quality of contact had improved over the course of the proceedings. In the first instance the contact was to be supervised, leading gradually to unsupervised contact the following year (2018).