A claim of "vicarious liability" against Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council has been dismissed following a High Court appeal last week.
Judge Mrs Justice Lambert handed down the ruling in the long running case, DJ v Barnsley MBC, which concerned the provision of “connected-person foster care”.
The court heard that the child, referred to in court as DJ, was placed in voluntary care with his uncle and aunt, known as Mr and Mrs G, at the age of nine in January 1980.
Mr and Mrs G later applied and were approved as what the council labelled “de facto” foster parents. DJ remained in the care of the family until his late teens. As an adult, he alleged that he was sexually assaulted by his uncle Mr G, however, the allegations were continuously denied.
The court ordered a trial over whether the council was vicariously liable for the alleged abuse of the claimant by the uncle.
The court heard that a key issue in the case was whether relatives of the claimant did or did not have a similar relationship with the local authority as ordinary foster carers, something which the council denied.
At an appeal hearing on 25 July, Mrs Justice Lambert heard that the uncle’s role in fostering the child was not being carried out on behalf of the council.
She said that “certain features which would typically be visible in a relationship between ordinary foster carers and a local authority were not present” because that the council had not recruited Mr and Mrs G, as they had come forward to care for their nephew, and had not provided training or information to the couple.
Mrs Justice Lambert found a “definitive line” between the activity of the uncle and activity of the council because evidence suggested that the G family’s purpose “was to raise the claimant as part of their family and in the interests of the family, rather than to benefit the local authority”.
After the implementation of the Children Act 1989 local authority rules around the appointment of foster carers with a connection to children were strengthened.
Browne Jacobson partner Sarah Erwin Jones, who advised the local authority, said: “With so much focus on the role of the extended family, as proposed in the government's latest proposals Children's Social Care: Stable Homes, Built on Love, local authorities will be reassured that this case suggests the courts will be reluctant to impose liability on councils for deliberate assaults by family members providing fostering and analogous care.”
Barnsley Council has been contacted for comment.
