31 January 2014
Re C (a child) (guidance on proceedings involving profoundly deaf parent) [2014] All ER (D) 128 (Jan)
The court issued guidance on the approach to be taken by professionals, local authorities, legal advisers, the court service and judges in cases involving a parent or parents who were profoundly deaf. The following issues should be considered:
- It was the duty of those who acted for a parent who had a hearing disability to identify that issue at the earliest opportunity;
- Those acting for the parent and the local authority should make the issue known to the court at the time the proceedings were issued;
- It should be a matter of course for there to be the provision, at the case management hearing, of expert advice on the impact of the deaf parent’s ability to be fully involved in the case. An application to instruct such an expert should be properly constructed in accordance with the Family Procedure Rules 2010;
- Funding needs had to be grappled with both before and during the case management hearing. Funding intervention to assist the deaf person would come from three different publicly
