Manjeet Kaler successfully represented an 84-year-old father in care proceedings in which the local authority and Guardian sought the removal of his two youngest children into long-term foster care.

The parents, originally from a remote area of Northern Pakistan and speaking very limited English, faced allegations of neglect and exposure of the children to violence and aggression within the home.

It was successfully argued that the proposed removal was neither necessary nor proportionate, and that the local authority had not exhausted the support that could be provided to the family. A central issue was the need to distinguish the younger girls from their older sisters, whose neurodiversity and significant behavioural needs meant that reparative care in long-term foster care was accepted as necessary.

The court rejected the local authority’s care plan for the two youngest girls and concluded that further support should instead be provided to enable them to remain within their family.

Manjeet was instructed by Aleksandra Sawicka of Duncan Lewis Solicitors.