C, a child (Care Proceedings)

The relevant Trust, both parents and the child concerned are anonymised throughout this judgment. Nothing should be published concerning either this judgment or the proceedings to which it relates which could identify, directly or indirectly, any of the parties.

[1] This is an application by a Northern Ireland Health and Social Care Trust (" the Trust ") for a care order pursuant to Article 50 of the Children (NI) Order 1995 (" the 1995 Order "). The hearing which I have conducted is a combined one, being concerned with issues of fact finding, threshold criteria, welfare and disposal. The protagonists are:

In circumstances where there exists an interim care order in its favour, the Trust now seeks a care order as a prelude to C being adopted, coupled with the court's approval of its extant care plan in respect of C. Whereas M opposes the Trust's application, F has the more limited aspiration of securing parental contact with C and neither consents nor objects to the Trust's application.

Bearing in mind that F and M are the only possible perpetrators of C's injuries, the court's primary task is to determine who inflicted the injuries, if possible. In the abstract, there are three possible permutations:

The court may also have to address the question of parental awareness and knowledge , particularly in the event of a determination that the injuries were inflicted by one parent exclusively. A finding of this latter kind will prompt consideration of the question of whether the non-perpetrating parent knew or should have become aware of either the precipitating incidents or their consequences.