That this decision by Rotherham Council is unbelievable!

[mothertruck3r]

Well, not really unbelievable in this era of craziness but make me furious. It seems like the girls who were victims of these gangs still don't have any value (judging by the subsequent treatment by the Council) and their emotional and physical wellbeing is completely dismissed so that a rapist can see his child. What were Rotherham Council thinking!!??

www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-46368991

Absolutely disgraceful. Heads should roll over this.

It's always fun to blame a council, and better still when you can abuse a social worker, but I was pondering two questions:

Should councils obey the law, or just the bits they sympathise with?

Does Rotherham council make the law, or is it Parliament?

The news of this has been distorted by the hysteria. The LA had a duty to inform the father that there were care proceedings.

They will not have invited him to apply for contact. They were required to simply advise him that if he wanted to get involved in the proceedings he would have to apply to court.

The system may need to be changed. There should be a power of the court to remove the need to serve notice on certain others.

Non-parties such as fathers without PR are entitled to be told of the proceedings. They are served with Form C6A, which specifically tells them they do not have the right to take part in the proceedings and if they want to take part they must issue an application. I am quite sure the LA would not have supported the father making such an application.

Sarah do you mind if I quote this on another thread as someone there thinks this is a good idea:

"I have known about this for years, it is still happening and in some cases, where the mothers have not recovered and survived in the way Sammy has, the rapists families have the children and the mother has to see them in an access centre. "

@PigletJohn Spot on.

Absolutely disgusting!!

How is this in the best interest of a vulnerable boy/young man.
I hope there is an appeal

I think it’s abhorrent but heads won’t roll and they shouldn’t. Because they were following the law and guidelines state that if the father is known during care proceedings they have a right to be involved.

What needs to be pushed for is a change of law that permits victims born due to this kind of abuse to have parental rights fully dissolved. What needs to be cut is the bureaucracy and red tape that leads to social workers being vilified for following the law.

I think there needs to be an amendment to the law or act taking into consideration situations of this nature. I think it is unlikely that we will hear the full story and for the sake of the child that is probably how it should be.

When the active councillor goes to negotiate with rapists for the return of a child they were abusing, whilst the law waited outside (cultural sensitivities fyi) the council have established they are happy to bend rules or law.
Provided it's for the benefit of the abusers or authority.

The victims are left with injury, injustice and little else.

Also the high court can decide not to notify the father.
Not sure why it didn't happen but it is possible.

How could there be an appeal against a council notifying the father of a child involved in care proceedings? They're just doing what they're supposed to do. Some of you seem to think Rotherham Council invented the concept themselves.

The article says the council could apply to court for permission not to notify him. Idiots. No need to change law, use the existing one correctly

Yes the procedure exists but it's unusual. I can see why they did it by the book, tbh. They certainly weren't bending the law by doing what they did.

Why let the truth get in the way of a good story?

I'm with collaborate and pigletjohn on this one

Parliament needs to pass a law,
removing all parental rights for men or boys convicted of the rape that produced the child

Also to remove the right for rapists to contact their adult child

Any contact should only legally be able to be instigated voluntarily by the child AFTER they reach 18+,
should they for some reason wish to meet the scum who raped their mother

So the council informed the ' biological father' of the child about the Family court proceedings, but he has made no application to be involved ? It only seems to have served to add distress to what must already be an upsetting situation.

Collaborate has it spot on. The council dont have room in law to make a moral judgement about whether a child should know a birth parent or about whether a birth parent is notified of care proceedings.

But it serves the news agenda to attack silly social workers than it does the legal system.

I don't care whether a rapist is Muslim or British going back 20 generations, white / black / polka dot:

NO convicted rapist should have any rights whatsoever wrt a child they created by rape

Change the law to make it so

The council told him he could apply for contact, which is the truth. They didn’t decide that contact was appropriate. That’s the court’s job, and everyone has the legal right to put a case before the court. If the council then supported his application, it would be a problem.

Yes perhaps when we are out of Europe we can get rid of these ridiculous human rights policies and apply a bit of common sense.

Humans who don't want rights confuse me.

"allthgoodusernamesaretaken"

How dare you call this woman's actual life a "good story".

twitter.com/sammywoodhouse1/status/1067412305888067584

Whatever law, councillor, social worker, who thinks it’s a good idea to let a convicted child rapist have a say in a child’s future needs all the attacking possible.

These past victims of grooming gangs were dismissed at the time, seems even when their attackers are in prison they are still somehow unreliable.

The sensitivity wrt this particular council is that the useless shits enabled the bloody rapes of vulnerable children
by evading their legal responsibilities to protect them,

but are now sticking to the letter of the law when it comes to the rights of the rapists.

If they just ignored the law in both circumstances, it would be less indicative of institutional bias against girls and women