(Family Division; Coleridge J; 20 December 2005)

The father had raped and indecently assaulted the child, and was currently serving 11 years imprisonment for these offences. The child, who was the subject of a care order, did not wish the father to be informed or consulted at all in relation to her future, and successfully applied for a discharge of his parental responsibility. The local authority was obliged to consult and inform parents about their plans for the child in care even after parental responsibility had been discharged.

The court granted a declaration to the effect that the local authority was absolved, in these exceptional circumstances, from any obligation to consult the father.