B1/2001/1102

Neutral Citation Number: [2001] EWCA Civ 1332
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF JUDICATURE
IN THE COURT OF APPEAL (CIVIL DIVISION)
ON APPEAL FROM THE BOURNEMOUTH COUNTY COURT
(His Honour Judge Bond)
								Royal Courts of Justice
								Strand
								London WC2

								Wednesday, 18th July 2001
B e f o r e:

LORD JUSTICE THORPE

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T (CHILDREN)

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(Computer Aided Transcript of the Palantype Notes of
Smith Bernal Reporting Limited, 190 Fleet Street,
London EC4A 2AG
Tel: 0171 421 4040
Official Shorthand Writers to the Court)
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The Applicant appeared in person.

The Respondent did not appear and was unrepresented.

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J U D G M E N T
Wednesday, 18th July 2001 
1.	LORD JUSTICE THORPE: Mrs T renews her application for permission to appeal the order of His Honour Judge Bond sitting in the Bournemouth County Court on 26th February 2001. He had before him applications for care orders, for freeing orders and for orders under section 34 in relation to Mrs T's three children, M, T and A, who were born between December 1996 and November 1999.
2.	The judge heard a lot of evidence. He accepted that Mrs T loved the children very much and that she did her best to provide for them. On the other hand, the history was dire. The father had had recurrent problems with alcohol and there had been numerous hearings in the court in order to protect the mother from his violent abuse. She herself, sadly, suffers intermittently with psychiatric problems and has from time to time been admitted to a unit. 
3.	These circumstances were fully considered by a number of professionals: social workers and child psychiatrists, both Dr Bristow and Dr Gay. The united professional view was that, although Mrs T does her very best, she does not understand fully what is required of her or have the capacity to provide what is needed. The judge recognised that Mrs T had made great improvements and he accepted the evidence of Dr Gay that, while she had the potential to change, she could not or was unlikely to be able to change quickly enough to be able to care for the children. The order that the judge made was realistically the inevitable order on the evidence before him. 
4.	It is extremely sad for Mrs T. She has told me this morning that there are continuing proceedings in the Bournemouth County Court and that she has an application for the extension of contact which is due to be heard next week and she has legal representation for that hearing. Mrs T will have to place all her faith in the continuing proceedings in the County court. My only job is to ask the question: has she any realistic prospect of success were I to grant permission to appeal the order of Judge Bond of 26th February? There is only one answer to that, and that is that there is no realistic prospect of success on appeal. That is what I said when I refused the application provisionally on paper on 7th June, and, although I am very touched by what Mrs T has said to me this morning, it cannot deflect me from the conclusion that this is a hopeless application. This is not material for the Court of Appeal and the application is dismissed. 
Order: Application dismissed.