Two High Court judgments have recently been published reflecting an interim and final decision in respect of the local authority’s application to disclose the mother’s HIV status to the father and within care proceedings more generally (and the mother’s cross-application for non-disclosure of her HIV status).

In the first set of proceedings, London Borough of Barking & Dagenham v RM & Ors [2023] EWHC 1879 Richard Jones and Melissa Elsworth acted for the applicant local authority and Olivia Magennis (instructed by Gary Jacobs & Co) acted for the respondent mother.

In the second set of proceedings, London Borough of Barking and Dagenham v RM and Ors [2023] EWHC 777 Richard Jones and Melissa Elsworth acted for the applicant local authority and Jessica Lee (instructed by Copperstone Solicitors) acted for the respondent mother.

Both were before the President of the Family Division.

The judgments provide both important guidance in terms of the procedure to be adopted for applications for disclosure/non-disclosure as well as summarising the case-law and relevant legal principles to be applied when making a substantive determination of such applications.