“Cyanide” and “Preacher”.

Re C (Children) (Care: Change of forename) [2016] EWCA Civ 374, [2016] All ER (D) 113 (Apr) NLJ 29 April

The Court of Appeal dismissed a mother’s appeal against an order of the court that prevented her from naming her two children (who had been taken into care) “Cyanide” and “Preacher”. The naming of a child was an act of parental responsibility, the extent of which could be determined by a local authority. There was no restriction in the Children Act 1989 preventing an authority from overruling a parent in relation to a forename, but that was subject to a parent’s rights under Art 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The judge had erred in finding that the authority could determine the mother’s choice of name pursuant to s33(3)(b) of the 1989 Act, where the proper route was for the matter to be put before the High Court by way of an application to invoke its inherent jurisdiction under s100 of that Act.