I represented the father of a 3-month-old baby, where the LA alleged substance misuse by the parents. The father’s fallback position was for his son to be placed with the baby’s paternal uncle in California. The LA would not agree to conduct a full assessment of the paternal uncle for various reasons.

I convinced the Court to order the LA to undertake a full assessment, by relying on the best practice, as set out in Re K [2019], so that the Court would have information about the correct interpretation of the conventions, and the recognition of orders.

Danielle Lewis for the LA, Andrew Bailey for M, Anne-Marie Rainsford for the child