C & Ors (Children: Placement or Special Guardianship), Re

Facts

The applicant local authority applied for care and placement orders in respect of four children of the first respondent mother and second respondent father: [C], aged 7; [D], aged 3; [E], aged 2; and [F], aged 10 months and born into the proceedings. Concerns first arose in 2021 in another local authority area, centring on domestic incidents, parental substance misuse and neglect, and escalated as the family moved between areas. In January 2025 a child protection medical concluded there had been neglectful parenting, poor oral hygiene and incomplete vaccinations, [C] having never attended school and [E] not being registered with a GP. Following a joint section 47 investigation the children were taken into police protection, proceedings were issued on 5 February 2025 and the children were placed in the applicant's care the following day. Parenting assessments of both parents by the Maya Angelou Centre were negative, hair strand testing showed continuing use of cannabis, cocaine and opiates, and an initial viability assessment and later connected person assessment of the maternal grandmother, the MGM, joined as seventh respondent, were negative. The parents accepted they could not care for the children within their timescales but, with the MGM, sought placement with her or, failing that, long-term foster care.