from which there are glowing reports.
The mother felt very bitter towards the
father who she felt had deserted her
and their child and wished him to have
no part in the child’s life. The mother in
preparation for her death, named the
friends as testamentary guardians of
the child in her Will. More than anything
the mother wanted the child to remain
with the friends, believing her to be safe,
secure and settled with them; the mother
felt that the child would be best placed
to come to terms with the loss and grief
that she would suffer after her death in
the care of her friends.
In August 2014, at a time when the
mother’s death appeared to be imminent,
the friends issued an application for a
special guardianship order. The judge
made a without notice interim child
arrangements order so as to confer
parental responsibility on the friends in
case that the mother died before the
return date. The father issued a crossapplication for the child to come and live
with him.
A special guardianship report was carried
out and recognised that whilst the child
has a strong network around her, it would
nevertheless come as a great shock with
“devastating reverberations” when her
mother died. The report also referred to
the fact that the child may need support
of a biological parent and of a specialist
to grieve and to come to terms with the
fact that the mother will no longer be
with her. It was also noted that there was
a lot of animosity and hostility between
the father and the mother’s friends who
were seeking care of the child which
could result in the real possibility that if
the child remains with the friends, any
future contact the child may have with
her father would not be of the quality or
frequency that would allow a real bond to
develop. The report therefore concluded
that due to the real risk that if a special
guardianship order is made in respect of
the friends the child would lose contact
with her father and special guardianship
order was not recommended. The
report recommended that there be
a child arrangements order made in
favour of the father with the child to be
placed in his care following the funeral
arrangements of the mother.
The Judge ruled that there is “a broad
natural parent presumption”