Home visits stopped for patient with violent father

A High Court judge has ruled that a 20-year-old man with “profound disabilities” cannot be allowed home visits after carers raised concerns about his parents' behaviour.

The man stays at a care home and would need to be accompanied by staff if he visited his parents because of his health problems, Mrs Justice Eleanor King was told.

But the judge heard that relationships between the man's parents, carers and social workers have "always been difficult" - and the man's father was given a prison sentence after being convicted of assaulting a social worker.

She said care home staff had refused to offer support on visits home, fearing that the man's parents would be aggressive, and care home bosses were unwilling to facilitate home visits.

She concluded that home visits were not an option.

Detail has emerged in a written ruling by the judge following a private hearing in the Court of Protection in London.

"Only the care home manager herself and her deputy were willing, the rest of her staff fearing that the parents would not co-operate, would interfere with the care they provided for (the man) and would be aggressive and intimidating towards them," said the judge.

"They believed there was a high risk of confrontation with (the parents) which would compromise their ability to support (the man)."

She added: "In all the circumstances ... contact at the family home is not an available option now or in the foreseeable future."

The judge said she considered the right to family life enshrined in Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights in reaching her decision.

Mrs Justice Eleanor King said the man's mother wanted to play a bigger part in caring for her son, at the care home and at her home.

She said the man's parents were able to visit him at the care home.

No one involved in the case was named in the ruling, which has been published on a legal website.

The Court of Protection is part of the High Court and judges analyse issues relating to sick and vulnerable people.

PA