Essex to appeal on compensation ruling

Essex Council has launched an appeal against last year’s
High Court ruling that it should compensate a couple for failing to
give them full details of a child it placed with them for
adoption.

The council argues that it has no “duty of care” to adopted
parents and that it was neither “fair, just or reasonable” for
Essex to be ruled liable to compensate the couple.

The adoptive parents are also appealing against part of the
original ruling because it limited their potential damages to the
period leading up to the placement and not the four years
afterwards.

The boy, who was placed with the couple in the mid-1990s, aged
five, suffered from severe behavioural problems and had been
assessed as needing constant supervision.