N (Children: Fact Finding - Perplexing Presentation/Fabricated or Induced Illness), Re
[2024] EWFC 326
The London Borough of Newham v A Mother & Ors
21 July 2023
[2024] EWFC 51
Family Court
A mom was caught on camera possibly harming her baby, and doctors and experts agreed she'd been making her kids sick and the dad did nothing to help. Now a judge will decide where the kids will live.
Key Facts
- •Two children, A (born 2018) and B (born 2021), were the subject of public law proceedings.
- •Proceedings were initiated after the mother was filmed taking B into a bathroom, returning with him unconscious, raising concerns of fabricated or induced illness.
- •The local authority and Children's Guardian sought numerous findings of fact regarding physical and emotional harm inflicted on the children by the parents.
- •The mother's actions included unnecessary medical interventions, potential suffocation, and misinterpretation/exaggeration of normal behaviours.
- •The father failed to protect the children by disengaging from their medical care and minimizing the mother's potential role in the children's symptoms.
- •Neither child has shown symptoms of seizures since being removed from the parents' care.
- •The mother was diagnosed with autism level 1 severity, impacting her understanding and interaction.
- •Expert medical witnesses concluded neither child had epilepsy, and the mother likely induced or fabricated symptoms.
- •The video recording of April 23, 2022, showed the mother's concerning actions leading to B's collapse.
Legal Principles
Standard of proof is the balance of probabilities.
Re B [2008] UKHL 35
Assessment of credibility, demeanour, and memory in fact-finding hearings.
Re A (A Child) [2020] EWCA Civ 1230
Burden of proof lies on the local authority.
Various
Fallibility of oral evidence and the need for a balanced approach with documentary evidence.
Gestmin SGPS SA v Credit Suisse (UK) Ltd, Blue v Ashley, Kogan v Martin
Lies told by a witness should only be considered if there is no innocent reason for the lie.
Revised Lucas direction, Re H-C [2016] EWCA Civ 136
Findings must be based on evidence, not speculation.
Re A (A Child) (Fact Finding Hearing: Speculation) [2011] 1 FLR 1817
Failure to prove an alternative defense does not prove the local authority's case.
Re X (No.3) [2015] EWHC 3651 (Fam)
Caution against hindsight and outcome bias.
Surrey County Council v E [2013] EWHC 2400 (Fam)
Careful consideration of failure to protect findings, particularly regarding non-abusive parents.
Re L-W (Children) [2019] EWCA Civ 159, Re G-L-T (Children) [2019] EWCA Civ 717
Outcomes
Findings of fact were made against both the mother and father.
Overwhelming medical evidence indicated the mother induced or fabricated symptoms in both children, and the father failed to protect them.
The mother was found to have fabricated and induced symptoms in both children.
The court accepted the expert and clinician testimony, rejecting the parents' claims of an unknown medical condition.
The father was found to have failed to protect the children.
His inaction regarding the children's medical care and his unwavering belief in the mother despite evidence to the contrary demonstrated a failure to prioritize their well-being.
The case was adjourned for a welfare hearing.
To determine living arrangements for the children and the nature of contact with their parents.