CC, DD, EE and FF (Children)

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 child[ren] and members of their [or his/her] 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.

These are public law care proceedings brought by Nottinghamshire County Council (the local authority) in which I am concerned with the four children of the B family. AA is their mother. I shall refer to her as the mother. BB is their father. I shall refer to him as the father. Their four children are CC born on [a date in] 2002 now 12 years of age, DD born on [a date in] 2004 now 10 years of age, their younger brother EE born on [a date in] 2006, so now 8 years of age, and FF born on [a date in] 2009 who is 5 years old.

I could deal solely with the facts in dispute but some exploration of the background is necessary to put those matters into a proper context.

The father was born in 1964. He has a sister CS, who is some 3 years younger born in July 1967. She gave evidence at the hearing. The father�s parents separated when he was at school. His father was a military man. He died in 2009. His mother, RB also gave evidence before me via video link from Bournemouth County Court. The mother was born in 1972 so is some 8 years younger than the father.

The parents married in July 1998. This was in fact the father�s second marriage. He first married P in 1987 and has a daughter L who was born in September of that year.