Opening the door to corrupt kidnapping of children via adoptions.
Your Story: Family Support Versus Forced Adoption
Posted
by Natasha in
Researching Reform..JerryResudek.com
Our next story looks at what happens when councils ignore expert
evidence encouraging the use of support services and choose to file care
orders instead.
1. Could you give a brief summary of the facts of your case?
Our four children were removed from our
care without our consent, all through forced adoptions. The two eldest
were placed with family and our two youngest were adopted by strangers.
The orders were made using the ‘risk of emotional harm’ threshold,
however my wife’s lawyer felt strongly that the criteria had not been
met. I was unrepresented because I could not afford a lawyer.
Our family became known to social
services because my wife pushed one of our children’s car seats a little
too aggressively, which resulted in her being placed on the child
protection register. She was then removed from the register a year later
and was never placed on it again. We both have medical conditions which
can be addressed with medication. Both my wife and I have argued in
front of the children at times but we have never gotten physical with
each other. Like most parents, when we get tired we can shout at the
children too, however this behaviour was viewed in a completely
different light by social services.
Despite several assessments which
confirmed that my wife and I could look after our children with support
from professionals, we never felt supported or listened to. When I began
to get upset about losing my two eldest daughters, professionals in the
case just assumed the behaviour was proof that I couldn’t parent, and
instead of offering me help to cope with the loss, they simply penalised
me for my pain, and assumed the anger was “part of a pattern,” which
professionals ended up taking personally and then simply pushed on with
the adoptions out of what felt like spite. It was all very primitive.
Incidents included a social worker
assaulting my daughter, another social worker blocking my way when
trying to stop the assault, being routinely threatened with prison if I
didn’t agree to various suggestions, and being told my children would
simply vanish if I was obstructive.
2. What went wrong in your case?
Our solicitors during the first set of
hearings didn’t seem to be bothered, and just weren’t interested in
pursuing the truth. Most of the judges we came across in subsequent
hearings seemed preoccupied with internal politics which appeared to
affect the way they processed our case. We got the feeling there was
collusion between the professionals and a lot things had been decided
before the hearings actually took place. A strange cultural quirk I also
noticed was that judges seemed to accept whatever social services told
them without questioning the quality of the reports or evidence
produced. When it came down to our word against theirs, we didn’t stand a
chance.
Bizarrely, when we did eventually get a
good lawyer who was fighting our corner, the council then threatened to
sue her and her firm. It was like watching a soap opera.
3. What happened after you alerted the professionals to the errors?
Nothing. No one seemed to be able to
correct the mistakes that had been made in the paper work. The most
distressing aspect of the case was the taking out of an Emergency
Protection Order for my son. A prominent politician at the time was so
concerned by the EPO in our case that he even raised it in Parliament,
where he questioned the legal validity of its use in our case both under
Family Law and Human Rights Law.
4. How do you feel the errors were dealt with?
They were never dealt with and no one has been held to account for the incredibly poor way our case was handled.
5. What do you think could have been done differently?
I think adoption targets have a lot to
answer for. They blind social workers to their reason for being, which
is to first and foremost offer families support and guidance. Not remove
children from loving parents who if you treat with respect and kindness
would be only too glad to work with them.
6. What message would you like to pass on to the child welfare system?
The system can’t carry on like this, it needs to improve drastically. If it doesn’t, its days are definitely numbered.
If you would like to share your story, get in
touch by leaving a comment below or emailing Researching Reform at
contactnphillips at gmail dot com.
Arigatou Intl Geneva
