Sunday, 11 November 2007

Baby abduction scandal - write to your MP

Full Story:
http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/News_0527.htm
I should have been at my desk working. Instead I was watching day time TV, it was very disturbing.
Lib Dem MP John Hemming. http://john.hemming.name/
He looks ordinary enough, just like any other MP, really. His allegations of an adoption scandal going on in the UK today - that is very disturbing.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6297573.stm
Babies are being removed from their parents so that councils can meet adoption targets, MPs have claimed.
Obviously it is easy to find adoptive parents for young babies, but not for the thousands of older children in care.
A young woman, Fran Lyon, was also on the TV. Fran is 22 and pregnant, her baby will be taken from her at birth to be given for adoption - against her wishes. This decision has been made by the Family Court. The reason given is that an expert who has never met the woman says their is a risk she could harm the child. This risk is because a number of years ago, as a teenager, she was treated as a psychiatric inpatient. The Psychiatrist who has treated her does NOT think there is any risk.
Just in case you do not know - it does not mean she is a psychopath or schizophrenic, she is not a threat to society or herself, she is just normal. Many people have some psychiatric illness for a period in their lives (possibly 1 in 4 people) teenagers are especially vulnerable to anorexia, bulimia, self-harm and suicide attempts. It is not trivial at the time, but at risk of sounding flippant, for most people this period in their lives passes away into history as they grow up and get on with life. I know many respectable people who have spent some time in mental hospitals in their distant pasts.
Many scandals have come to light in recent years where people have been imprisoned due to discredited expert witnesses. So you would think there would be more caution these days.
www.fassit.co.uk/adoption_scandals.htm
The problem is that The Family Court is not like any other, it does not work to the same rules.
This part of the story is more shocking. The court can take away a child even though nothing has happened. Before the baby is born Fran Lyon can appear on TV and speak out about this injustice, but after the child is born she is not allowed to speak to ANYONE (but her lawyers) about it. This is a very common occurrence - but no-one is allowed to speak about specific cases. There really seems very little a mother can do once the baby is taken, as adoption is irreversible.
This sort of thing could happen to any family. I have heard harrowing stories of children all taken in to care and adopted with no evidence against the parents. No crime was committed and the parents were never charged with a crime. Still the children can be taken, just in case and spend months or years of their precious childhood in care, foster homes or even be adopted. This is UK Family Justice today (I think, Radio 4, Law in Action).

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