Grandparents and not council should have responsibility for boys, appeal judges rule

Grandparents, not council bosses, should have responsibility for two boys who have been at the centre of Family Court litigation, appeal judges have ruled.

A Family Court judge had decided that the boys, aged five and two, should be taken from the care of their mother and live with their grandparents.

Judge Robin Tolson also concluded that the boys should remain in the care of social services bosses at Camden Council in London.

But three Court of Appeal judges have taken a different view and decided that the boys’ grandparents should become their guardians and have parental responsibility.

Sir James Munby, Sir Ernest Ryder and Lord Justice Sales, who analysed the case at a Court of Appeal hearing in London, said the boys should be made the subject of “special guardianship orders”.

Judge Tolson had overseen a hearing in the Central Family Court in London.

His decision had been challenged by a guardian he had appointed to represent the boys’ interests during litigation.

Barrister Deirdre Fottrell QC had outlined concerns about Judge Tolson’s decision on behalf of the guardian.

Appeal judges said, in a written ruling, that the case raised issues of “law and principle”.

They have not identified the boys.

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