Supervising Incapable Adult

In Re F (Adult: Courts Jurisdiction) (TLR 26 June CA)

T, although aged 18, had the intellectual age of a five to eight-year-old child and lacked the capacity to make decisions as to her future. The local authority were concerned about the care she was receiving from her mother and wished to be able to direct where T lived and to restrict and supervise her contact with her natural family, principally her mother, and therefore sought to invoke the inherent jurisdiction of the court under the doctrine of necessity. It was accepted that T did not come within the guardianship provisions of the Mental Health Act 1983, nor did wardship apply to her after the age of 18.