P (Notice of care proceedings to father without parental responsibility)

Facts

Z, a teenage girl, had been groomed and sexually exploited and was made the subject of a final care order in 2018 on a care plan of long-term foster care, her parents accepting that the threshold criteria under s.31(2) of the Children Act 1989 were met and that the plan was proportionate. Z was pregnant during those proceedings and her baby, P, was born in December 2018. The local authority promptly issued care proceedings in respect of P and obtained an interim care order, its interim care plan being that on discharge from hospital P should be placed with Z in her foster placement, which was implemented. P's father is believed to be T, a man more than ten years older than Z who is believed to belong to a group of predatory men who groomed and sexually exploited a number of teenage girls, Z among them; he has been prosecuted for offences relating to his sexual relationship with Z and is serving a custodial sentence. T does not have parental responsibility for P, has never had contact with P, and is believed to be unaware of the proceedings. The local authority applied to be relieved of the requirement in FPR 2010 PD12C §3.1 to serve Form C6A on him. The application was heard on 18 February.