Council to pay for Polish lessons

COUNCIL bosses are to pay for a Polish boy living with foster carers to have Polish lessons, a family court judge has said.

Mr Justice Francis said the boy was now aged under 10 and had spent more than the first half of his life in Poland before being brought to Wales by his mother.

The judge said Cardiff City Council, which has welfare responsibilities for him, will make funding available so that he can have Polish lessons.

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

The boy has been at the centre of family court proceedings overseen by Mr Justice Francis.

Detail of his case has emerged in a written ruling published by the judge following a family court hearing in Cardiff.

Social workers had intervened after the boy’s mother returned to Poland and the boy was temporarily placed with foster parents.

Mr Justice Francis, who is based in the Family Division of the High Court in London, has now ruled that the boy should stay with those foster parents.

He said they would become the boy’s special guardians.

“It is important to have regard to his Polish heritage,” said Mr Justice Francis in his ruling.

“I encourage (his foster carers) to allow him to mix with other Polish children.”

Mr Justice Francis ruled that the boy could not be identified, but he said social services bosses at Cardiff City Council had asked him to make decisions about the youngster’s future.