It seems inconceivable that such things could happen in a modern civilised country...two hours after giving birth, the young mother was lying in her hospital bed when officials from Nottingham social services snatched her baby away. The damage that this must inflict on the mother, let alone the child, is almost impossible to conceive. But what makes the case worse is that the social workers acted without legal authority. For the moment, Mr Justice Munby has ordered the child reunited with its mother. But the really disturbing aspect is that far from being an isolated incident, it seems to be part of a sinister pattern. The number of babies under one month being taken into care for adoption is now four a day, a 300 per cent increase on a decade ago. What is more disturbing is that social services have arguably been encouraged to behave in this way by a financial incentive, introduced by Tony Blair to increase the number of adoptions. Instead of trying to place the more difficult older children with parents, local authorities have been concentrating on babies, for whom it is far easier to find adoptive parents. Meanwhile, the number of seven-year-olds being adopted has halved. Mr Blair's perverse incentive is being quietly abolished, but the damage has been done. This deeply worrying scenario is made worse by the cloak of secrecy surrounding the family courts, where parents are unable to challenge - or even talk about - their decisions, however perverse.
Full Article: http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/News_0749.htm
No comments:
Post a Comment