A Charedi transgender father in the UK who has been denied face-to-face contact with her children has been given permission to appeal against the decision.

A High Court judge feared the children could be marginalised or excluded by the strictly Orthodox community if they saw their father.

While the case – believed to be unprecedented in Britain – took place in a family court last year, the judgment was published only in January.

The father left the Charedi community two years ago and now lives as a woman.

One rabbi who was called as a witness on behalf of the mother testified “the families around them will effectively ostracise them by not allowing their children to have more than the most limited contact with that family’s children”.

The father was told she could have “indirect contact” with the children a few times a year such as writing to them on their birthday.

The judge, Mr Justice Peter Jackson, said his decision was not “a failure to uphold transgender rights…but the upholding of the rights of the children to have the least harmful outcome in a situation not of their making.”

The case will go to the Court of Appeal later this year.