http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/april/30/05.htm
Parents fighting in the family courts for contact with their children are being denied access to their personal files by a corrupt system, a leading parental rights campaigner has said.
Alison Stevens, head of Parents Against Injustice, has called for Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary, to force social services and individual courts to comply with the Data Protection Act.
She said: Local authorities have to send the requested files within 40 days . . . but they are often not following public law guidelines. Its corruption within the system. They are playing God, and there must be some reason why perhaps to hide things they have got wrong in the cases.
Evidence is gathered from a variety of sources before children are taken from their parents in family courts. Tracking down and obtaining these documents can be very difficult because they are held by various bodies and must be applied for in different ways.
Ms Stevens said: Parents should be entitled to their files not just social services files but all files: from health visitors, GPs, different hospitals, the ambulance trust, psychologist reports, paediatrician notes and so on.
The Liberal Democrat MP John Hemming has written to all MPs calling for a parliamentary review into the operation of the family courts. He said: One of the ways legal practitioners prevent parents from fighting cases is by not giving them the paperwork. Often the paperwork doesnt add up, so if parents got hold of it they would see what was going on.
Many parents have welcomed the call for greater accountability. Roland Simpkin (not his real name) received his social services files seven years after his children were taken into care in 2001 amid allegations of abuse.
When the allegations were shown to be unfounded, he sought to obtain the evidence held on him by social services to find out why he was still not allowed to see his children.
http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/april/30/05.htm
Saturday, 2 May 2009
Four More Staff Sacked Over Baby P failings
http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/april/30/04.htm
Four more people have been sacked by Haringey Council for failings in the care of the child named only as Baby P, it has emerged.
Deputy Head of the Children and Families Department, Cecelia Hitchen has been dismissed, along with a social worker Maria Ward, the Team Manager Gillie Christou and the Head of Safeguarding Services, Clive Preece.
A Haringey spokesman said Ms Hitchen was sacked for "loss of trust and confidence" following last year's damning Ofsted report. The other employees were axed for gross misconduct.
The General Social Care Council has also interim suspension orders against Maria Ward and Gillie Christou.
A fifth, social worker Sylvia Henry, had no action taken against her because there was no case to answer, the council found.
The sackings follow that of NI-born Sharon Shoesmith as the boss of the London authority's Children's Services Unit in December.
She was was dismissed without compensation after a critical Ofsted report.
http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/april/30/04.htm
Four more people have been sacked by Haringey Council for failings in the care of the child named only as Baby P, it has emerged.
Deputy Head of the Children and Families Department, Cecelia Hitchen has been dismissed, along with a social worker Maria Ward, the Team Manager Gillie Christou and the Head of Safeguarding Services, Clive Preece.
A Haringey spokesman said Ms Hitchen was sacked for "loss of trust and confidence" following last year's damning Ofsted report. The other employees were axed for gross misconduct.
The General Social Care Council has also interim suspension orders against Maria Ward and Gillie Christou.
A fifth, social worker Sylvia Henry, had no action taken against her because there was no case to answer, the council found.
The sackings follow that of NI-born Sharon Shoesmith as the boss of the London authority's Children's Services Unit in December.
She was was dismissed without compensation after a critical Ofsted report.
http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/april/30/04.htm
Council sacks four more Baby P workers... without any payoffs
http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/april/30/03.htm
The council at the centre of the Baby P abuse scandal has sacked four more staff over the tragedy.
Three managers and a social worker were dismissed over their failures to protect the 17-month-old boy and over a damning Government report into children's services in Haringey.
Officials at the North London borough said none of them would receive compensation payouts.
But the two most senior managers had already pocketed a total of almost Pfund40,000 in pay while they were suspended from work over the scandal.
Baby P's social worker, Maria Ward, who saw him at least nine times in the eight months he was on the child protection register, was among those sacked.
She, her team manager, Gillie Christou, and Haringey's head of safeguarding children, Clive Preece, were sacked for gross misconduct.
A fourth official, Cecilia Hitchen, was dismissed for 'loss of trust and confidence' following the damning Ofsted inspection into children's services, a Haringey spokesman said.
She was deputy to Sharon Shoesmith, the head of children's services in Haringey at the time.
Baby P, who cannot be named for legal reasons, died in August 2007 after suffering more than 50 injuries at the hands of his mother, her boyfriend and their lodger.
They will be sentenced later this year for causing or allowing the death of a child.
http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/april/30/03.htm
The council at the centre of the Baby P abuse scandal has sacked four more staff over the tragedy.
Three managers and a social worker were dismissed over their failures to protect the 17-month-old boy and over a damning Government report into children's services in Haringey.
Officials at the North London borough said none of them would receive compensation payouts.
But the two most senior managers had already pocketed a total of almost Pfund40,000 in pay while they were suspended from work over the scandal.
Baby P's social worker, Maria Ward, who saw him at least nine times in the eight months he was on the child protection register, was among those sacked.
She, her team manager, Gillie Christou, and Haringey's head of safeguarding children, Clive Preece, were sacked for gross misconduct.
A fourth official, Cecilia Hitchen, was dismissed for 'loss of trust and confidence' following the damning Ofsted inspection into children's services, a Haringey spokesman said.
She was deputy to Sharon Shoesmith, the head of children's services in Haringey at the time.
Baby P, who cannot be named for legal reasons, died in August 2007 after suffering more than 50 injuries at the hands of his mother, her boyfriend and their lodger.
They will be sentenced later this year for causing or allowing the death of a child.
http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/april/30/03.htm
Mother who hit son with hairbrush given community order
http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/april/30/02.htm
Boy, eight, taken into care after assault
A mother whose son was taken into care after she "saw red" and hit him with a hairbrush said today that she did not know when the youngster would return home.
The woman, 42, who cannot be named, was handed a community order for 12 months at South Somerset magistrates court after admitting assaulting the eight-year-old boy by beating. The woman, who snapped because the boy refused to get dressed to go to school, hit him with the back of the hairbrush on one shoulder and with the spiked side of the brush on the other, leaving red marks.
She told the court in Yeovil that it was a moment of madness in which she "saw red" and immediately apologised to him and gave him a cuddle when he started to cry. He complained of a sore shoulder at school later that morning and when a teacher saw the marks police were called.
In interviews he told officers that he and his mum often had fights because he went to bed late. The single mother, who also has a daughter aged eight, was fighting breast cancer and was stressed about her health. She has had a mastectomy and will return to hospital for more surgery next month.
Ben Tabiner, mitigating, told magistrates that she had voluntarily attended anger management courses.
"This is a difficult case interfering in the upbringing of a child, this is about a single mum with a difficult child at the end of her tether and in that moment she snapped," he said.
"She realises that she cannot behave that way and she is remorseful. She has been punished by her son no longer living with her, and she is distraught by what has happened in terms of her relationship with him."
http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/april/30/02.htm
Boy, eight, taken into care after assault
A mother whose son was taken into care after she "saw red" and hit him with a hairbrush said today that she did not know when the youngster would return home.
The woman, 42, who cannot be named, was handed a community order for 12 months at South Somerset magistrates court after admitting assaulting the eight-year-old boy by beating. The woman, who snapped because the boy refused to get dressed to go to school, hit him with the back of the hairbrush on one shoulder and with the spiked side of the brush on the other, leaving red marks.
She told the court in Yeovil that it was a moment of madness in which she "saw red" and immediately apologised to him and gave him a cuddle when he started to cry. He complained of a sore shoulder at school later that morning and when a teacher saw the marks police were called.
In interviews he told officers that he and his mum often had fights because he went to bed late. The single mother, who also has a daughter aged eight, was fighting breast cancer and was stressed about her health. She has had a mastectomy and will return to hospital for more surgery next month.
Ben Tabiner, mitigating, told magistrates that she had voluntarily attended anger management courses.
"This is a difficult case interfering in the upbringing of a child, this is about a single mum with a difficult child at the end of her tether and in that moment she snapped," he said.
"She realises that she cannot behave that way and she is remorseful. She has been punished by her son no longer living with her, and she is distraught by what has happened in terms of her relationship with him."
http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/april/30/02.htm
Mother's surprise confession exploded cot death theory
http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/april/30/01.htm
In the last of his series on criminal cases being considered for appeal, Duncan Campbell examines the evidence that could free a woman with a mental age of 10 from a life sentence and the circumstances in which a man was jailed for stabbing two racist attackers
Early this year, the Court of Appeal will have a chance to hear for the first time the case of Jacqueline Fletcher, who was jailed for life at Birmingham crown court in 1988 for drowning her six-week-old son, Glen.
Ms Fletcher, now 23, was born in Bangor, north Wales, and grew up in Atherstone, Warwickshire. When she left school she started going out with a young petty criminal, Glen Miles, and became pregnant by him.
Her first baby was born prematurely after what Warwickshire social services described as 'physical abuse and kicking by the father-to-be' and weighed just over two pounds. She was not capable of looking after the child properly - doctors now say she has an IQ of 70 and a mental age of 10. The child was taken into care and eventually adopted.
Her second child, Glen Richard Miles, was born in September 1984, again prematurely. The child's father was back in prison shortly after the birth. Social services worked closely with Jacqueline to make sure that the child was properly cared for. She was visited daily by at least one person connected with the social services.
On October 19, 1984, a postman, Gary Penny, arrived to deliver mail and found Ms Fletcher crying 'my baby, my baby.' The child was dead on the sofa and Mr Penny called the ambulance and police. An ambulance man attempted mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. A pathologist's examination suggested that the child was a cot death victim. No inquest was held, as is the normal practice, so that parents are not caused further distress.
http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/april/30/01.htm
In the last of his series on criminal cases being considered for appeal, Duncan Campbell examines the evidence that could free a woman with a mental age of 10 from a life sentence and the circumstances in which a man was jailed for stabbing two racist attackers
Early this year, the Court of Appeal will have a chance to hear for the first time the case of Jacqueline Fletcher, who was jailed for life at Birmingham crown court in 1988 for drowning her six-week-old son, Glen.
Ms Fletcher, now 23, was born in Bangor, north Wales, and grew up in Atherstone, Warwickshire. When she left school she started going out with a young petty criminal, Glen Miles, and became pregnant by him.
Her first baby was born prematurely after what Warwickshire social services described as 'physical abuse and kicking by the father-to-be' and weighed just over two pounds. She was not capable of looking after the child properly - doctors now say she has an IQ of 70 and a mental age of 10. The child was taken into care and eventually adopted.
Her second child, Glen Richard Miles, was born in September 1984, again prematurely. The child's father was back in prison shortly after the birth. Social services worked closely with Jacqueline to make sure that the child was properly cared for. She was visited daily by at least one person connected with the social services.
On October 19, 1984, a postman, Gary Penny, arrived to deliver mail and found Ms Fletcher crying 'my baby, my baby.' The child was dead on the sofa and Mr Penny called the ambulance and police. An ambulance man attempted mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. A pathologist's examination suggested that the child was a cot death victim. No inquest was held, as is the normal practice, so that parents are not caused further distress.
http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/april/30/01.htm
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