Girl must go into foster care after family accused of using her as ‘weapon and prize’

A 14-year-old girl who has been at the centre of a row between her mother and grandmother for most of her life must live with foster carers, a High Court judge has decided.

Mrs Justice Parker concluded that the girl had been treated as a “weapon and a prize” in the “conflict”.

At one stage, she had been removed from home by police following “physical struggles”.

The judge said the youngster should be placed into foster care after social services staff asked her to make decisions.

She had analysed evidence at private hearings in the Family Division of the High Court in London.

Detail has emerged after Court of Appeal judges reviewed the case at a public hearing.

Both women had complained about Mrs Justice Parker’s decision.

But Lord Justice MacFarlane and Lord Justice Kitchin have dismissed appeals by both women in a ruling following a Court of Appeal hearing in London.

Mrs Justice Parker concluded that the girl had “suffered significant emotional harm” as a result of being exposed to the “conflict” between her mother and her mother’s mother.

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