British court allows transgender woman to see her Haredi children

Britain’s Court of Appeal overturns a lower court ruling ordering a transgender woman not to see her five ultra-Orthodox children.

The court rules that “the best interests of these children seen in the medium to longer term is in more contact with their father if that can be achieved,” according to the Jewish Chronicle.

The woman, who left a Haredi community in Manchester, had made the request to the High Court of Justice of England and Wales to see her five children, whom she fathered when she was living as a man. That court ruled in January that she could not have direct contact with her children, but be allowed to send them letters or cards four times a year on Jewish festivals and their birthdays.

The family has remained anonymous.

The new judgment means that the case will now be sent back to the family court, where the judge in the case will be required to take into account the Court of Appeal’s recommendation that direct contact between the father and her children be established. The case can then go to the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom.

— JTA