A top judge faced with having to decide whether two young children should live with their mother or their grandmother has said that he 'cannot be Solomon and order them to be cut in half.'
And the scene of Biblical wisdom continued as Lord Justice Ward told the weeping grandmother she would no longer be able to care for the boy and girl, aged five and three, as if they were her own.
Despite winning the judge's sympathy and admiration, the grandmother, from the Maidstone area, failed to block a decision that the children, who she has cared for since the girl was a one-year-old baby, must move to live with their mother.
However, in a powerful message to the mother, the judge said she was duty-bound to ensure her children have love and respect for their grandmother and continue to see her regularly as they grow up.
The judge told the court the paternal grandmother took in the mother and her children in 2010, because the mother was 'in a mess' and was clearly unable to cope with bringing them up.
However, after the mother made a 'dramatic improvement', a family court judge recently decided the children could be returned to her, as she was by then capable of caring for them.
Lord Justice Ward said the decision was 'finely balanced' as both the grandmother and the mother had a strong case for saying she should be the children's primary carer.
However, after observing that he 'cannot be Solomon', he added: 'They had to go with one or t'other.
It is a hard judgment to make, but one which I simply cannot say is wrong.'
He said that, in the end, the family judge made the decision in the best interests of the children, as it may affect their self-esteem to grow up only seeing their mother on weekends.
He said the grandmother's decision to battle for her grandchildren in the courts, having to fund her case herself, demonstrated her devotion to them.
Rejecting her appeal bid, he said: 'I have great sympathy for her - more than that, I have great admiration for her.
'I earnestly hope this is a very strong message to the mother who sits before me. It is her bounden duty to ensure that her children love and respect their grandmother and see her regularly.
'If life gets too tough for the mother, as it conceivably might, I have no doubt that this grandmother is loving and generous enough to take over responsibility if necessary.'
