PIL instrument(s)

Case number and/or case name

In the Matter of HJ (A Child) [2013] EWHC 1867 (Fam)

Details of the court

England and Wales, First Instance

Articles referred to by the court

Date of the judgement

02 July 2013

Appeal history

CJEU's case law cited by the court

Summary

The proceedings were in respect of a child born in Ireland on 24th May 2012. The care proceedings were initiated in Ireland. The parents appeared to be British. They fled to Ireland in May 2012 when the mother’s pregnancy was far advanced. Following the child’s birth, an emergency care order was granted to the Health Service Executive. The parents left Ireland and returned to England on 2nd July 2013. On 2nd May 2013, Birmingham J sitting in the Irish Court made a request for a transfer of the proceedings to England. In this context, Mr Justice Munby held: “7 In the present case the matter is all one way. Birmingham J was, if I may be permitted to say so, obviously right to conclude as he did and for the reasons he gave. More specifically, and focusing on the key question of how HJ's interests will best be served, there is really in this case, just as there was in Re L-M , only one possible answer: for the reasons given by Birmingham J it is plainly in HJ's best interests that his future be determined, as Birmingham J thought it should be, by the courts in this country.” [7] Subsequently, on 17th July 2013, public care proceedings were initiated by the Local Authority in England. The child was placed with foster carers in West Sussex. The LA’s plan was for the child to be placed for adoption with his Irish foster carers who had cared for the child before the child’s arrival to England. The mother agreed. The case reached the High Court again because the consent of the Irish Authorities had to be sought under Article 56 of Brussels IIa. (See West Sussex County Council v J & Anor [2013] EWHC 4501 (Fam))