Susan Nash provides an update on recent human rights cases
In AD and OD v the United Kingdom (App no 28680/06) the applicant complained that the decision to take her infant son into local authority care was in breach of Art 8 (right to private and family life). After a medical examination, the child was diagnosed with non-accidental fractures, and placed on the “at risk” register.
The possibility of brittle bone disease was raised by the parents but dismissed by a paediatrician. An interim care order was granted and the family relocated to a family resource centre for assessment which was a considerable distance from their home. The instructions given to the centre were ambiguous, and a parenting assessment was conducted instead of a risk assessment. In the absence of an appropriate assessment, the local authority concluded it was unsafe to return the child to his parents. A risk assessment was eventually carried out by the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC), which concluded that the family should be reunited without delay.
Eventually, a senior medical expert took
