A 15 year old boy has launched a Court of Appeal test case after being denied the chance to give evidence in proceedings that led to him being taken into care. He wishes to stay with his mother, despite admitting that she can be “stubborn and difficult”.
According to a Daily Telegraph report his mother last year sought to place him in temporary foster care as she planned to move abroad for work, but the courts intervened and ordered long term care with Carmarthenshire County Council inWales. The boy’s lawyers labeled the mother’s plan an “an inappropriate game of poker”.
The teenager argues that the decision to prevent him from giving testimony in the original care proceedings contravened his rights under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Despite his mother’s actions the youth still wishes to live with her and the boy’s lawyers claim that by not even giving him a say in this matter the original judge had failed to consider the “cathartic welfare benefit in being heard and knowing that you have done all you reasonably can do to influence your own destiny.”
Lord Justices Ward, Elias and Pitchford said they needed some time to consider the important points raised and will give their ruling at a later date.
