An appeal against the Court of Appeal’s decision will be heard in the Supreme Court in the case NA v Nottinghamshire County Council concerning the liability of a local authority for abusive foster carers.

The case concerns a thirty nine year old woman; she had been placed in the care of a foster family as a child after her birth parents were deemed incapable of caring for her. The two sets of foster parents known in the proceedings as ‘Mrs and Mrs A’ and ‘Mr and Mrs B’ subjected her to physical and sexual abuse during the time she spent with them.

The appellant argues that the local authority is to blame because either it was ‘vicariously liable for the torts of the foster carers or because it owed her a non-delegable duty of care to ensure that she was protected from harm.’

The Court of Appeal unanimously dismissed the previous appeal because the local authority had exercised due care and skill when selecting the placements. However, permission for the appeal to was granted and will be heard by the Supreme Court.

For more information please visit The Family Law Week’s website.