COUPLE CAN CHALLENGE COURT RULING
A couple who hit the headlines after their two sons were taken into care following rulings by family court judges have won the latest stage of a legal fight.
The couple, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, have been told that they can attempt a challenge in the Court of Appeal.
They had made personal pleas to an appeal court judge at a hearing in London earlier this week - and Lord Justice Ryder today ruled that they could ask the Court of Appeal for permission to mount an appeal. He said the children should not be placed for adoption until the couple had aired their grievances to three appeal judges.
Lord Justice Ryder had been told that a two-year-old boy had been taken from the couple's care late in 2013, and a baby, now aged seven months, taken from them earlier this year, after concerns were raised by Hertfordshire County Council social workers.
The case hit the headlines in May after judge Mrs Justice Parker decided that the baby should be taken into care, following a family court hearing in Watford, Hertfordshire.
Mrs Justice Parker, who sits in the Family Division of the High Court, highlighted concerns about the father's hostility to social workers.
She also said she was concerned about the vulnerability of the mother, who, she said, had been diagnosed with a learning difficulty. She said she was troubled by the couple's decision not to name the baby. She said she thought it ''emotionally harmful'' not to give a child a name.
