Judge slams council as he denies birth mother contact with four-year-old child

A family judge has ruled it is too soon for a four-year-old adopted girl to have direct contact with her birth mother. In BM v AM & Ors, His Honour Judge Marin said agreeing to the mother’s application for contact once or twice a year could present an ‘almost guaranteed risk’ of harm to the child.

The ruling comes amid increasing calls – albeit little in the way of case law – for a new approach to allowing direct contact between birth families and adopted children.

In November, the Public Law Working Group recommended a ‘greater focus’ on the issue as long as it was safe and advocated a ‘sea change in the approach to the question of fact-to-face contact between the adopted child and the birth family’.

In BM, the judge acknowledged the evolving landscape but added that the working group said there should be limits on what the court should impose on unwilling adopters. He noted too that while the law allowed for making an order for direct contact, Lord Justice Baker in the Court of Appeal had said it would be ‘extremely unusual’ for the court to impose an arrangement against the wishes of adopters.

In the present case, the judge said that the girl had been subject to a final care order after an application from the local authority, the London Borough of Southwark. The order was made after the court heard evidence referring to the birth mother’s lack of insight, neglect and a serious lack of hygiene in the family home.

The child was matched with an adoptive mother in 2023 but the birth mother sought permission to oppose the granting of an adoption order and also sought contact with the child. She was refused leave to oppose the adoption application but the issue of contact was adjourned.

The court heard that the adoptive mother was not opposed to direct contact but maintained this was not the time for it to start; she would be guided by the professionals as to when direct contact was appropriate.

The judge stressed that the birth mother had behaved throughout the hearing with dignity and had been polite. The judge also praised the adoptive mother, saying she was a kind and dedicated parent who wanted the best for the child and had not closed the door on direct contact.

He heavily criticised the local authority, saying it had ‘let down’ the child and both the birth and adoptive mothers. The authority’s approach to direct and indirect contact had been ‘unacceptable’, the judge concluded.