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A four-year-old boy should not be returned to his mother despite an improvement in her mood disorders which have enabled her to resume care of her younger son, the Court of Appeal ruled this week.

The successful appeal was undertaken by Devon Council after Plymouth County Court discharged a care order over the older boy last month.

Lord Justice Thorpe said the earlier ruling was plainly wrong and restored the care order, freeing up the boy for adoption. The court heard that a panel had approved the boy's adoption by his foster carer and she had since "dropped her emotional guard" and told the boy of the decision.

"Once this process has been set in train the opportunity for a judicial reconsideration and a judicial reversing from forward gear to backwards gear hardly exists," Lord Justice Thorpe concluded.