preventing you from taking Theo abroad, on the basis that the people listed in his passport as his parents no longer have parental responsibility for him.”
“What do you mean—‘no longer have parental responsibility’?” I say, baffled. “We’re still his day-to-day carers, surely? At least until a court decides otherwise?”
Anita considers. “Have you told the council you’re private fostering?”
“I don’t even know what that is,” Pete says despairingly.
“Caring for someone else’s child. It might have given you some protection if the council had already looked into the situation and decided you were doing a good job. As it is, notifying them is a legal requirement that you’ve failed to carry out, which isn’t a big deal but probably doesn’t help us.” The solicitor puts her pen down. “I’m afraid you’re in a very unusual situation, legally speaking. Generally, you can only apply for court orders to do with children if you have parental responsibility for them—and while that would automatically include any child who’d lived with you for three years, anything less doesn’t count. If the child is two, and you aren’t his parents or legal guardians and you’re no longer listed as such on his birth certificate, you effectively have no rights over him whatsoever.” She pulls another document out of the bundle. “So when, for example, the applicants say they want Theo to continue coming to their house every day to be looked after by their nanny, technically that’s their decision to make.”
“Over my dead body,” Pete says, clenching his fists.
Anita glances at him. “You might want to think through the possible ramifications before you decide not to comply,” she says mildly. “As you’ve probably gathered, there’s an organization called CAFCASS that’ll be involved—independent social workers who’ll make a recommendation to the court based on what they think is best for the child. It’s very, very rare for the judge not to go along with their views. If the applicants can argue you’re not acting in the child’s best interests, and the CAFCASS officer agrees, it may not be helpful to your case.”
Pete shakes his head. “This nanny share isn’t in Theo’s best interests. He needs to socialize with children who are the same developmental age as him. Being at the Lamberts’ with a nanny who barely speaks English and a child with special needs isn’t helping.”
“And can you offer him an environment where he will be with other children his age?”
After a moment Pete sighs. “Not right now. He was thrown out of nursery for hitting.”
“So where is he today?”
“At a neighbor’s house. She homeschools, but her kids are older. She’s just doing us a favor so we could both come to this meeting.”
“Well, I strongly suggest you talk it over with the CAFCASS officer before you go against the biological parents’ wishes. But if Theo’s been violent with other children, be prepared for them to ask some tough questions about your own parenting style as well.”
“Jesus,” Pete says. “Jesus. I can’t believe this is happening.”
“That’s not to say the Lamberts will succeed in taking Theo away from you,” Anita adds. “Usually, the courts work on what’s called the no order principle—in other words, when in doubt, leave things as they are. This is clearly a very unusual case, but the bottom line is that the court will have to decide returning Theo to his birth family is in his best interests. Hopefully, they’ll conclude that the status quo is actually better for all concerned.”
“Well, it obviously is,” Pete says. “And that’s what Miles and Lucy thought, too, before it all went crazy.”
“Did they put anything in writing?”
Pete shakes his head. We’ve been back over every email, looking for something that might prove what the Lamberts agreed to, but there’s nothing specific, just vague protestations of friendship and goodwill.
“When did they start all this legal stuff?” I ask.
Anita checks one of the forms. “About eight weeks ago.”
“You see?” I say quietly to Pete. “Eight weeks. That would have been just after our first meeting with them.”
He doesn’t reply. His eyes look haunted.
I turn back to Anita. “And David? What does this mean for him?”
“David’s case is completely different from Theo’s. The Lamberts are asking the court’s permission to apply for a Special Guardianship Order. SGOs are quite a recent invention—they’re sometimes called super guardianships, because once you have one, you can overrule the wishes of everyone else connected with the child, even the natural parents—in other words, you. However, it’s not clear whether the Lamberts