Council scraps case against couple they said were ‘manipulating children’s gender’

Parents have been told they can continue looking after children after a local authority abandoned plans to remove five from their care.

Lancashire County Council wanted to remove the children from the home of the couple known only as CP and TP.

They accused them of manipulating their children’s gender potentially causing ‘significant emotional harm’.

A three-year-old boy, known as H, was dressed in a girl’s school uniform despite teachers asking them to put him in boys’ clothing.

The mother told a teacher: ‘Here’s another one for the Tavistock [clinic].’

Their youngest natural child, known only as R and who is now 13, transitioned from male to female when they were just seven. Their parents changed their name by deed poll and got a new passport.

However, R told a teacher that she did not think life was worth living.  A third child was also said to have ‘gender identity issues’.

Lancashire County Council’s social services started the process of removing the five children from the couple’s care.

They feared they had ‘acted in a precipitate manner in relation to perceived gender dysphoria’.

However, for reasons that have not been revealed, they withdrew their application.

Judge Mr Justice Williams allowed the council to abandon their litigation at the Family Division of the High Court.

He said: ‘The lives of the family should now proceed on the basis that those concerns were comprehensively dispelled as a result of the inquisitorial process that has been undertaken.

‘I observed during the course of the hearing that issues relating to gender identity and the medical understanding of such issues is complex and developing.’