Parents of boy, 15, should not be told what son told social worker, judge rules

The parents of a 15-year-old boy should not be told something the youngster revealed to a social worker, a High Court judge has ruled.

Mrs Justice Roberts was told that the boy, who is at the centre of family court care proceedings, did not want his mother or father or stepmother to know what he had said.

But social services bosses with responsibility for his welfare thought that his parents and stepmother ought to be told – and asked a judge to make a decision.

Mrs Justice Roberts has concluded that the teenager’s wishes should be respected after analysing the case at a hearing in the Family Division of the High Court in London.

“I regard it as entirely necessary that (his) confidence and privacy in this information is maintained,” said the judge in a ruling.

“He has expressed in the clearest terms his wish that the family should not have access to the information.”

He added: “Those wishes deserve the court’s respect.”

The youngster had been placed into temporary foster care pending a judge making decisions on where he should live in the long term, the judge heard.

She was told that the information did not relate to the boy’s parents or his stepmother but “essentially to himself”.

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