Council must pay for boy’s Polish lessons

♦ A council must pay for a foster child to learn Polish so he can speak to his neighbours and stay in touch with his heritage, a judge has ruled.

Mr Justice Francis said the boy was now aged around nine and had spent the first six years of his life in Poland before being brought to Wales by his mother.

The judge had been told that the boy’s foster parents have Polish neighbours and he said Cardiff City Council would make funding available.

He indicated his approval, saying it was essential that the child stayed in touch with his Polish heritage.

Social workers had intervened in the boy’s case after his mother returned to Poland and left him with a man she had lived with.