A LACK of specialist mental-health treatment and suitable family-assessment facilities has been exposed in a Royal Court case which took almost 90 weeks to resolve and ended with a toddler being freed for adoption.

The court ruled that the 21-month-old boy could not safely live with his parents after hearing that both needed long-term dialectical behaviour therapy – known as DBT – to address their mental-health vulnerabilities.

However, the recommended treatment was not readily available, while repeated attempts to secure a specialist residential assessment in the UK failed.

The court found there was ultimately “no indication as to when and if” either parent could access and complete DBT in Jersey.

According to the government website, the current wait list for individual psychological therapy for adults with complex mental health needs is approximately 18 to 24 months.

The judgment noted: “In any event, none of that extensive necessary support is available.”

The toddler has lived with the same foster carer since leaving hospital shortly after his birth in 2024.

Experts identified concerns about his parents’ mental health, substance use, emotional regulation and ability to provide safe, consistent care during periods of stress.

A professionals’ meeting heard there were no residential or foster placements in Jersey capable of accommodating the family.

Access to DBT depended on referrals through either Adult Mental Health or the Alcohol and Drugs Service and was expected to take six months.

The case previously made the JEP’s front page after the Royal Court halted an earlier attempt to free the baby for adoption, finding there was still time to explore other options.

A UK residential assessment had collapsed because of the parents’ prescribed medicinal cannabis use. A second centre was also unable to accept the family, while another placement was identified but withdrawn in December 2025.

The earlier ruling prompted cannabis campaigner Simon Harrison to claim that Jersey’s legal system had failed to keep pace with lawful medicinal-cannabis treatment.

Prescribing GP Dr Kirstie Ross also argued that the absence of formal Island regulations left family-law and safeguarding services operating “in a vacuum”.

But following further assessments, experts concluded that the parents had shown only “pockets of parenting capacity” and had not demonstrated the sustained change required for safe, full-time care.

The court stressed that the parents loved their son, enjoyed good-quality contact and had handled the prolonged proceedings with “dignity and compassion”.

However, it found the risks remained too great, and that adoption was the only safe option.

The judgment also criticised the 90-week duration of the case, during which there was no court review for around seven months and no issues resolution hearing to narrow the dispute – an omission the court said was “difficult to understand”.

It said the delays might have been reduced if Jersey’s established procedure for managing children’s care cases, which requires regular reviews and efforts to resolve disputed issues before a final hearing, had been followed.

The baby must now leave the foster carer who has been his primary attachment throughout his life – a move expected to cause “significant further emotional distress”.

The court said his need for a permanent home was “very pressing indeed” and encouraged consideration of an open adoption allowing limited contact with his birth parents.