A teenage girl is resisting moves by the Northern Area Health Board to take her unborn child into care.
The girl has been in voluntary care since she was 14 and has had 14 different and unsuccessful placements.Her one-year-old son is also in care and has had four different placements to date.
At the High Court today, Mr Justice Kelly said the facts of the case were "lamentable". He was concerned at the lack of information about how the NAHB planned to manage the imminent birth of the girl's child.
The judge also expressed concern at a suggestion there was a risk the father planned to remove his son from the jurisdiction or that the girl might try to leave because she feared her new baby would be taken into care.
He was dealing with an application by lawyers for the girl and her now 14-month-old son for orders directing the NAHB to provide appropriate care and accommodation for them.
The girl is also opposing a proposal by the board to take her as-yet-unborn child into care at birth.
The judge granted leave to Mr Cormac Corrigan SC, for the girl, to seek orders directing the board and State to provide appropriate care and accommodation for the girl and her son.
After hearing the girl had booked into three different maternity hospitals and that the NAHB appeared to be unaware of the arrangements for her child's imminent birth, he also granted injunctions restraining the girl and her son from leaving the jurisdiction and an further injunction restraining the father from taking the mother or her son from the jurisdiction.
