Whenever a court makes a decision in relation to arrangements for a child it will of course be guided by what it considers to be best for the welfare of the child.
And in considering what is best for the welfare of the child the court will take into account various matters, including any harm which the child has suffered, or is at risk of suffering.
And this will usually mean that if the court considers that the child may suffer harm if a particular course of action is taken then the court will not take that course.
However, there are occasions when there is simply no course of action available in which the child may not suffer harm. In such situations all the court can do is balance the harm caused by each course of action, and choose the one it thinks will cause the least harm.
This was the situation in a recent case that took place in the High Court in London.
The case concerned a 10 year-old child whose parents had been in litigation concerning him since 2017.
The conflict between the parents had been so extensive that the local authority had issued care proceedings in 2021, on the basis that the conflict had caused the child significant harm.
Earlier that year the father had retained the child in his care, after making allegations that the mother had hit him. The court found that the child was at risk of significant emotional harm in his father’s care, and ordered that he return to live with his mother.
The latest application to the court was made by the father last year, seeking shared care of the child on a 50/50 basis, rather than just the contact that he was having, and after another incident when he had retained the child in August 2023.
Hearing the application, Mrs Justice Lieven said that central to the case was the father’s obsessive behaviour (the father said he was diagnosed with Asperger’s), including being absolutely certain of his own rightness, which led to him making numerous complaints against every professional involved in the case, including social workers, a psychologist, the child’s Guardian, and the judge.
The father had also made numerous complaints about the child’s school, and was convinced that they were not properly handling his education. The child’s behaviour at school was deteriorating.
Whilst Mrs Justice Lieven had no doubt that the child loved his father and wanted to spend time with him, such that stopping contact would cause him emotional harm and distress, she was equally confident that the father was undermining both the mother’s care of the child and the role of the school.
The father could not deal with views that differed from his own, so if anyone disagreed with him, or did something he did not agree with, he would lodge a complaint, and view them as acting contrary to the child’s best interests. He also could not prevent himself from then seeking to encourage the child in sharing his view of the situation.
The father could not see that his actions were harming the child, and his behaviour was not going to change.
Mrs Justice Lieven felt that it was not sustainable and in the child’s best interests for the current situation to continue. She concluded:
“There are no good options in this case, and I wholly accept that stopping contact between the father and [the child] will be very upsetting for [the child] and will cause him harm. However, in the balance of harm, it will give [the child] and his mother a break, which I hope will allow them to stabilise and strengthen their relationship, without the father’s undermining influence. It will also, I hope, allow [the child] to feel more confident in the school and for his behaviour to improve.”
Accordingly, she made an order for no direct contact between the father and the child. She also made an order barring the father from making any further applications for two years, without the permission of the court.
You can read the full report of the case here.
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