Social services under fire after boy placed into foster care before grandparents knew he was born

Judge says grandparents could have been considered as carers if they were told of boy's existence

The boy will stay with foster carers because he has 'bonded and settled very well', according to the judge (Rex Features)

A family court judge has criticised a council's social services department after it emerged that a little boy was placed with foster carers when grandparents who might have offered a home were unaware of his existence.

Judge Mary Lazarus complained about a "wide-ranging composite set of failings" by staff at Kent County Council.

She said lawyers involved and a guardian appointed to represent the boy, had to bear a share of the blame.

The judge concluded that the boy, whose mother has mental health difficulties, should stay with the couple who are fostering him.

She said the boy, now around 15 months old, has settled well in a loving home and is thriving.

But she said if the boy's mother's parents had known of his existence they would "at the very least" have been considered as carers.

She said they had been placed in an "unfair situation" which should never have arisen.

Details of the case have been outlined in a written ruling published by Judge Lazarus.

She analysed evidence at a private family court hearing in Bromley, south London, a few weeks ago. The family involved could not be identified.

"This was indeed a situation that should never have arisen, on a number of fronts," she said in her ruling. "It represents a wide-ranging composite set of failings on the part of the local authority, its social work child protection and adult mental health teams, the legal representatives of all the parties, the children's guardian and the court."

The judge said the boy's maternal grandparents should have been told of his birth and assessed as care candidates before he was placed with foster carers.

She said "at the very least" their position would have been "included in any consideration" of the case.

But she concluded the boy should stay at his foster home "notwithstanding the unfair situation" his grandparents had been placed in.

Judge Lazarus said the boy's welfare was her "paramount concern".

She added that he had "bonded and settled very well" with his foster carers, who had provided a loving home where he had "thrived".

She said moving the boy to his grandparents' home would disrupt his life and "pose an unacceptable risk of traumatic and damaging distress".

Judge Lazarus said he would stay in contact with his mother, her parents and other maternal relatives. The boy's mother had "long-standing" mental health problems and said his father was "unknown", she said.

Press Association