Children & young persons

The Court of Appeal dismissed a mother’s appeal against an order of the court that prevented her from naming her two children (who had been taken into care) “Cyanide” and “Preacher”. The naming of a child was an act of parental responsibility, the extent of which could be determined by a local authority. There was no restriction in the Children Act 1989 preventing an authority from overruling a parent in relation to a forename, but that was subject to a parent’s rights under Art 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The judge had erred in finding that the authority could determine the mother’s choice of name pursuant to s 33(3)(b) of the 1989 Act, where the proper route was for the matter to be put before the High Court by way of an application to invoke its inherent jurisdiction under s 100 of that Act.