Re S (Wardship: Removal to Ghana) [2025] EWCA Civ 1011
Judgment has been handed down in Re S (Wardship: Removal to Ghana) [2025] EWCA Civ 1011. The case related to a child who had been relocated to Ghana by his parents against his wishes and was applying for orders requiring his parents to repatriate him to the UK from Ghana. The child appealed against an order by the first instance judge refusing his applications.
Lorraine Cavanagh KC and Daniel Currie represented the Association of Lawyers for Children, an intervenor in the Court of Appeal, and were instructed by Ruth Hetherington at McAlister Family Law, all acting pro bono.
The Court of Appeal granted the child’s appeal and remitted the matter for re-hearing. The judgment contains an interesting discussion of the role of parental responsibility in wardship proceedings and the relevance of Gillick competence to such cases.
The judgment is available here.
