Mother asks for daughter with learning disorder to be sterilised

A mother yesterday made an emotional plea for her daughter to be sterilised as she told a court how their family could not cope with looking after any more of the young woman's children.

The woman's 21-year-old daughter, who can only be referred to by the letter P for legal reasons, suffers from severe learning difficulties and is due to give birth by caesarean section to her second child.

Her mother, known as Mrs P, believes her daughter does not understand the implications of getting pregnant. She told a court that while she had pledged to look after her daughter's new child, as well as her existing one, she could not cope with any more. P is unable to look after her children on her own.

Backed by an NHS trust and her local authority, Mrs P applied to the Court of Protection in London to have her sexually active daughter forcibly sterilised at the same time as she gave birth.

P will have her baby, a girl, this month, but a decision about sterilisation was delayed for two months after the court was told further psychiatric assessment was needed.

An independent psychiatric consultant will decide whether P is capable of making decisions about contraception on her own.

P, who is represented by the Government's Official Solicitor Alastair Pitblado, lives with her mother who looks after P, her son and will care for the new baby.

However, if Mrs P withdraws her support, any additional children will "almost certainly" be taken into care.

Addressing Mr Justice Hedley, Mrs P said: "I want what's best for my daughter. We cannot carry on supporting more and more children. She doesn't see anything wrong with her behaviour, she hasn't got the capacity to realise about her actions.

"If she has more children, we cannot make a commitment to bring up any more.

"She doesn't understand that she won't ever see these children again.

"I tried to explain that any future babies will have a new mum and dad. She thinks she can see them at weekends, on their birthdays and at Christmas.

"She doesn't understand that she won't ever see them again as she says 'I am their mummy'. "

Mrs P said her daughter was likely to get pregnant again despite having a "complete family" with a son and a daughter.

"She fell pregnant with her second child quite quickly after her first. The thing that worries me is that she will get pregnant quite quickly again."

Mrs P said an attempt to give her daughter a long-term contraceptive by injection failed.

"We got her in the room to have the injection which she refused at the last minute."

She said she had wanted her daughter to undergo the sterilisation at the same time as delivery so she would not have to endure general anaesthetic twice.

The case is the first of its kind to come before the Court of Protection, which was created in 2007 to make decisions about vulnerable members of society.

The last time such a case was heard was in 2003, when permission for sterilisation was approved.

Mr Justice Hedley said P suffered from significant learning difficulties and that without support from her family, any new baby would "almost certainly" be removed and adopted.

The case was adjourned until April.

(Published by Telegraph - February 16, 2011)