A young mother is taking her case to the European Court of Human Rights after being stopped from seeing her three-year-old daughter because UK courts ruled she was not intelligent enough to care for the child.

The woman, who can be identified only by her first name, Rachel, for legal reasons, learned from a family court that her daughter is to be adopted in the next three months, after which all contact will cease.

Her case was taken over by the official solicitor who was brought in to represent Rachel's interests because she was judged to be intellectually unable to instruct her own solicitor. The official solicitor did not contest Nottingham City Council's adoption application, in spite of Rachel's wishes.

Adoption order was granted regardless of a subsequent psychiatric opinion that Rachel, aged 24, has the mental capacity to understand the legal process.

“Rachel's little girl, K, was born prematurely and the city council believed Rachel was not capable of managing her demanding medical requirements. However, Baby K has been released from hospital and is now with a foster family,” said Tony Broadley, Joint Managing Partner and a family law specialist at Rowlands.

Rachel has lodged an appeal with the European Court of Human Rights, which has the power to quash the adoption. In addition she has applied for a judicial review of the adoption order.

Tony added: “There are aspects of this case that are not in the public domain, so it's important to avoid a knee-jerk reaction based solely on the newspaper reports we have seen recently.

“Nonetheless, the system of appointing the official solicitor - which is at the heart of this case - is regarded by many family law professionals as a broadly paternalistic approach and a review of all the relevant facts is to be welcomed.”