AIBU to be horrified by the Stolen Children of England

[LivingOnTheDancefloor]

I just watched a French documentary called "England's stolen children" and can't believe this is happening in England. Horrifying, scary, unbelievable, it is like a horror movie...

Basically, social services are taking babies from their parents based on suspicion that abuse might happen in the future, except that the decision is made based on ridiculous things.
A lady had her three children taken from her, including a breastfed baby because she went to the ER for a child's broken ankle and they judged that he must have been beaten by his parents (only based on the ankle). X years later the parents manage to prove the fracture was due to scorbut. And they found out the initial report from the ER says "no sign of fracture".
The judge admitted they shouldn't have taken the children and the parents were innocents. But the children were given to adoption so the parents will never see them again.
That is just one of the stories.
Some women are told while pregnant that their newborn will be taken as soon as he arrives (and thzney do it).
The documentary says it is due to the facts that counties have to reach a number of children given to adoption so they target poor/uneducated parents and find any reason to take their children.
And as fostering costs money to the state they prefer adoption.

AIBU to ask if you heard about it here in the UK? And if yes, what do you think? Could it be true or are they exagerating?

I am really shaken.

www.google.fr/amp/s/researchingreform.net/2016/11/14/englands-stolen-children-controversial-new-documentary-on-forced-adoption/amp/?client=safari

Sorry, no idea how to post links, and I am on my phone

[LivingOnTheDancefloor]

Sorry, that was long...

[ItsAllGoingToBeFine]

Apparently it has John Hemming in it - that suggests to me that it is bollocks. I'm sure someone will be on soon to properly debunk.

[titchy]

The documentary says it is due to the facts that counties have to reach a number of children given to adoption

That is absolute bollocks, as I suspect most of that documentary was.

[ghostyslovesheets]

ss can not remove a child permanently without enough evidence to convince a court

my experience does not reflect any 'truths' you mention at all

[AndShesGone]

It's absolute made up crap by an utter twat

Hth

[TheHouseOfIllRepute]

It's been a while since we had a forced adoption thread
Tell me- how much is each baby worth and who profits?

[FeliciaJollygoodfellow]

With all the children currently in care, for really solid reasons, I just don't know why this would happen. I haven't seen it and I don't doubt it was upsetting but it seems very very odd.

I would imagine there's a lot of people who have had a child removed who will swear blind they did nothing wrong while being carefully economical with the truth.

[DarlesChickens61]

Social Services cannot remove a child from its home without a Court Order - and that involves a great deal of evidence. The fact that you have mentioned John Hemmings makes me want to give you

[mrstrunchball]

Oh God, not the old "adoption targets" chestnut again???
Adoption targets relate to the targets set to find homes for children in the system
NOT
To supply children to families who fancy having one!

I have worked with many many families (big part of my job) who are deemed to be at risk.
Ss give chance after chance, put support in and overlook many " undesirable" behaviours in order to keep families together,
Are Ss perfect? Not in the slightest, but they're really far to overstretched to randomly steal children for no good reason.
Sorry your "documentary" sounds more like a soap opera!

[DearMrDilkington]

Not everything you see on tv is true.

[MonsterChopz]

Documentary sounds like it's peddling a lot of untruths. SS have to evidence in great detail to the court before children are removed. I'm almost certain that these types of documentaries are very one sided. A lot of families who have kids removed don't want to face up the any part they may have played in the children being removed. Due to confidentiality rules SS are in a position where they can't refute a lot of the claims made.

There are alot children at risk in this country and I can't believe that SS have the time or resource to be removing children unnecessarily.

Documentaries like these are really harmful, there are so many children "looked after" in the UK that we should be promoting adoption rather than putting out these scare stories.

[viques]

Those social workers eh. If they are not ignoring children being beaten and abused in the streets they are stealing babies* to order to sell them to the richest bidder. I know this is true because every social worker I have ever met lives in a detached five bedroom house, sends their children to private school and drives around in a brand new Audi, all bought with their baby stealing blood money. And also that nice man Honest John Hemmings has not got an axe to grind, that is a rumour spread by disgruntled social workers and investigative journalists.

• only the most beautiful babies of course.

[manicinsomniac]

Sounds like a load of sensationalised media bullshit to me.

Children aren't taken into care at the drop of a hat.

There have probably been 1 or 2 horrendously tragic mistakes that this documentary has leapt on but that doesn't make those stories a) the deliberate aim of the authorities or b) anything other than vanishingly rare, though horrific, anomalies.

[bigredfireengine]

In my experience the opposite is true. Children are not taken into care soon enough and after years of incidents by the time they are finally taken into care they are too old/and or too vulnerable to be adopted.

[LivingOnTheDancefloor]

Just to clarify, I am not saying it is true.
I am French, it is the first time I hear about it, all my French friends are horrified, I thought I would ask on an English forum what it is all about.

[RestlessTraveller]

Yeah, we also get commission for every kid we remove too, that's how I bought my Audi. (Not true)

[TonaldDrump]

Ok, a slightly dissenting opinion.

I've seen myself how these things can spiral out of control with a close friend of mine. There are plenty of good social workers but there are also crap ones who do make shit up when writing their reports and when making a case to the court.

And the ease with which interim care orders are issued (by magistrates not judges) is shocking. No, it might not result in a full care order but foster care can be pretty crap and cause damage until the case has a proper hearing.

So, yes, skepticism is fine but there is a grain of truth there

[chinam]

What utter fucking rubbish. Or what Monster chops and the others on the thread have stated much more elegantly.

[Wdigin2this]

Sounds like a load of rubbish to me!

[WouldHave]

I see that article also refers to Ian Josephs. That is like putting up a huge glowing sign telling us that the whole thing is a big steaming pile of horseshit.

What really concerns me about what Josephs does is that it puts children in danger. He assumes that no parent accused of abuse can possibly be guilty of it and helps them to leave the country to live abroad. If those children are being abused, that means he is helping their parents to carry on. That is, quite simply, appalling.

[Littledrummergirl]

[Teapot13]

This definitely sounds like rubbish.

With regard to the family described, presumably a fracture due to scurvy (what I assume you mean by scorbut) would merit investigation?

[WouldHave]

Have a look at the Child Protection Resource website. It was started by a group of MNers at a time when there was widespread concern about the misinformation that people like Hemming and Josephs were spreading and sets out the actual facts.

OP, if you're in France, could you spread the word that the programme is nonsense and refer people to things like the Child Protection Resource website?

[DarlesChickens61]

WouldHave Tue 29-Nov-16 23:06:25
I see that article also refers to Ian Josephs. That is like putting up a huge glowing sign telling us that the whole thing is a big steaming pile of horseshit.

What really concerns me about what Josephs does is that it puts children in danger. He assumes that no parent accused of abuse can possibly be guilty of it and helps them to leave the country to live abroad. If those children are being abused, that means he is helping their parents to carry on. That is, quite simply, appalling

I didn't get to the part about Ian Josephs. But if he is involved then the whole documentary is a fuck up! This man has managed to destroy the lives of many more parents and children than any Social Worker!

OP why did you think it was a great idea to comment on the UK's Child Protection Procedure? How does France compare?? (Bearing in mind what you have posted is a pile of shit!)

[RestlessTraveller]

Actually I saw a French Dofumentary the other day about living brain donors. Apparently they do ok, they're just not that bright.