Girl Placed With Protestant Foster Parents Sues Council

A Roman Catholic teenager has brought a landmark legal action against a council for sending her to live with Protestant foster parents. The young woman, identified only as “AR”, is seeking damages of £70,000 from Highland council for housing her with two sets of Protestant foster parents after she was taken into care aged 8.

Now 18, she has been granted legal aid to mount a case against the council and was yesterday given the go-ahead for it to be heard in the Court of Session in Edinburgh, Scot-land’s supreme civil court.

In a written ruling after a brief hearing last Friday, Judge Lord Uist appeared to admit yesterday that the case was unprecedented, saying that it involved “novel and difficult questions of law”.

He added: “I think that the only appropriate forum for this action is the Court of Session. Indeed, I think that [its] unusual nature qualified it for the Court of Session more than many personal injury actions, some of very low value, which are customarily raised here.” If successful, the action would extend dramatically the boundaries of human rights legislation in Britain and could trigger a host of similar cases.

Legal papers were served on Highland council this year, while documents lodged before the court yesterday said only that the council had failed to accommodate the girl’s religious needs.

According to the papers, the council failed to ensure that she could follow “her religious persuasion throughout the period she was looked after and accommodated”.

The girl moved from the South of England to Alness in the Highlands with her mother, stepfather and brother, but in May 1997 was taken into care, according to the papers. She remained in care for most of the next nine years.

In addition to being housed with Protestant foster parents, the teenager alleges that she was sent to schools which did not provide lessons suitable for her learning disabilities.

She also claims that the council breached the European Convention on Human Rights by preventing her from having contact with her natural mother — an alleged breach of the right to family life. The young woman claims that she suffered anxiety, depression and educational impairment and was so affected by the experience that she is still being treated by doctors. She also says that she finds it hard to get a job and has suffered loss of earnings as a result.

No date has been set for further hearings, and it is thought that the case is unlikely to go to court before the end of the year.

A spokesman for Highland Council said last night that it would strongly resist the claim. He said: “We will robustly defend this action, although at the moment it would be inappropriate for us to comment further because of the ongoing proceedings.”