Re: B (a child)
Tuesday 25 October 2022
By an Appellant’s Notice filed at this Court on 23 June 2022, this is an appeal against the decision of Mr Justice Peel, sitting in the High Court Family Division, dated 14 June 2022. The applicant mother appeals the decision to dismiss the mother’s appeal against the order of Recorder Beck dated 6th December 2021.
There are ongoing Children Act 1989 proceedings, which were initially brought by the respondent father in February 2020, shortly before the father unilaterally retained the child in his care in March 2022. Both parents seek final orders that provide for the child to live with them and spend time with the other.
The order of the Recorder dated 6 December 2021 refused to permit the mother to rely upon the evidence of a former partner of the respondent father and dismissed the mother’s application for the final hearing to be listed as a composite fact-finding/final hearing. The mother seeks to challenge the degree to which, if at all, it is appropriate for a court to place weight upon interim (or emergency) arrangements provided for within private law proceedings, and prior to any full factual and/or welfare consideration, in its consideration of the necessity of a fact-finding hearing in a case where domestic abuse is alleged.