Finola Moss identifies some fundamental flaws in the care system
The recent Court of Appeal judgment in M-W (a Child) EWCA Civ 12 brought into sharp focus the vulnerability of the disabled family within care proceedings. This judgment involved a baby, whose premature birth had resulted in serious medical problems.
At 11 months old she was removed by an interim care order from her bipolar mother, despite evidence that: the mother’s support package was insufficient from day one; the parents’ tracheotomy use being “pretty impressive’’; the judge finding that, the “mother had acquitted herself well in caring for [the baby] on her own in difficult circumstances’’; and a lack of any definitive evidence of the mother’s mental condition or the harm it might cause her child.
The psychiatrist had to defer to a psychologist’s evidence that the mother might be suffering from an emotionally unstable personality disorder, the symptoms of which are, in any event , similar to bipolar. This disorder was the main cause for concern, as unlike bipolar, it was untreatable, and as such might cause future emotional harm, as it
