A WOMAN whose health difficulties mean she cannot care for her son and daughter has won a family court fight to stop them being adopted.

The youngsters, who are both under 10, were placed with foster carers temporarily more than a year ago.

Council services bosses say they should be placed for adoption and lose all legal ties with their family.

But their mother, who sees them regularly, said they should stay in foster care – and a judge has ruled in her favour.

Judge Martin Dancey, sitting at the family court in Bournemouth, has concluded that adoption would be "risky" for the children.

He has decided that they should stay with the foster carers they have been living with since late 2017.

The judge has outlined his decision in a written ruling following a private court hearing.

He said social services bosses at Dorset County Council had responsibility for the children's welfare. However, the woman wanted to care for her children and 'loves them very much', the ruling reads.

She has a "constellation" of mental and physical health problems and accepted that she could not meet their needs, the judge said.

There are no other family members who can care for the youngsters.

"The local authority thinks the children should have a chance to be adopted," said Judge Dancey in his ruling.

"They say that because adoption would mean the children having a new family for life that would go on beyond their 18th birthdays.

"That might give the children a sense of belonging to a normal family rather than being in foster care.

"It would also mean cutting all legal ties between the children and the rest of their family."

He added: "I have decided that adoption would be risky for the children.

"The risks are greater than the benefits they might get from adoption, such as a sense of belonging to a 'family for life'.

"So I have decided that the children should stay with their foster carers during their childhoods as their mother wants."