We were instructed by the Official Solicitor, to act for a woman who had been found to lack capacity to make important decisions in her life due to a complex mixture of depression, alcohol dependence and drug abuse. There had been previous Court of Protection proceedings following which the local authority had been providing our client with suitable accommodation and help to engage in a detox and rehabilitation programme.

Our client  had travelled to Somalia to visit family. The local authority became concerned that our client had been away in Somalia for longer than she originally intended and made an application to the Court of Protection to allow it to have oversight of the local authority’s attempts to find our client and obtain her wishes and feelings about a return to the UK. The Official Solicitor was appointed to act as our client’s litigation friend, and she then instructed this firm to represent our client in the proceedings.

During the case it was very difficult for us to establish any communication with our client or her family members. We were told variously that our client had died, or that she did not want to speak with us, or return to the UK. At other times, it became apparent that our client may have been prevented from leaving Somalia by her family members. Whilst the parties were considering how to conduct a further welfare check, our client obtained help to flee to the UK via Kenya.

On our client’s return to the UK, we corresponded with the local authority to ensure that our client did not lose her housing due to rent arrears, had her benefits reinstated and obtained an improved care and support plan to include referrals to the Alcohol Recovery Services and advocacy organisations to help her manage emotional traumas (our client told us that she had been locked in an institution in Somalia with her hands and legs tied up). We argued throughout, and it was accepted by the Court of Protection, that it had jurisdiction to consider our client’s case even when she was abroad and her whereabouts were unknown to the parties.