IVF after abusing kids?

[SassyPearlEagle]

Sorry, first time posting and I'm not sure where to ask this. Bit of a grim question.

For anyone who works in the fertility industry: are there any circumstances in which a couple would be denied IVF treatment, because of previous child neglect/abuse?

There's a situation in my family right now - I'm afraid to share details just in case she/anyone recognises this. In short, I'm alarmed at the prospect of her getting pregnant again. A baby would very likely be neglected, and I'd only hope that SS took it away fast enough this time. (Her previous kids were all removed after years of severe neglect and more, which she doesn't seem to give a shit about. How she escaped punishment I've no idea)

I can only find info on "who is allowed IVF" via NHS funding. Cynically, I expect that private clinics are just happy to take the £££ and don't care about children being created in dreadful circumstances. But if there are actually limits/rules then I'd love to be proven wrong. She's already fucked up numerous kids for life, and I can't see why she 'deserves' more chances to do it again.

Well they let Katie Price and her boyfriend try it so the barrier for inclusion must be pretty flipping low.

That’s only if she actually was pregnant. Till
then you can’t even refer under ‘unknown’

I didn’t have any suitability interviews before ivf, maybe somewhere I had to state whether I had convictions? But I don’t recall having to do so.

I’ve had IVF albeit some years ago now. We went private and they didn’t do any checks (that I am aware of) however, they had a non negotiable therapy session as part of the treatment and the therapist reported back to the consultants. I think if the therapist sees any red flags for whatever it would be flagged up. Once you are pregnant they follow you up medically for 6 weeks or so and then you go back into the NHS system for midwife appointments. It should be picked up then regardless of where/how a baby was conceived. I think you probably can’t prevent her having IVF and getting pregnant but SS will kick in when she is pregnant, which does feel wrong but would be the same if conceived without IVF.

I’ve had 5 rounds of private IVF (and a baby) and my GP has had zero involvement.

You do have to sign standard HFEA forms declaring any history around being fit to be a parent but people could easily lie, I suppose.

Hi OP as you’re concerned that the person you’re thinking about might be on here, I’m not going to give a public response but feel free to DM me

When I was a dc our ndn had her dc removed after years of neglect.. 20 years later she was in a magazine with her new dh speaking about her Gofundme for ivf with him as she was unable to have dc...
I sincerely hope she was sussed out before any treatment took place.

It may be better to not do anything at the moment as surely better to wait and see if she does get pregnant then act as you’ll have the information available to you when it’s needed. If you act too soon you’ll likely scare her off and it could make things worse for any potential baby if she becomes secretive and evasive.

You literally can't. The only way a contact can be recorded is against a child, whether born or unborn. There is no possible way to to anything at all about a woman planning to get pregnant. Trust me.

Yes but there's no unborn yet because she's not pregnant!

Yes you can. The information can be logged on her file with a note to say it needs to be followed up if the IVF clinic/GP/midwife comes asking for information in the future. Also if the OP becomes aware she is pregnant she can call again to alert SS.

I would report her now, OP. And just give what information you can.

Better to save a child from the horror of the care system.

No it can't! Because children's services records are created against the CHILD not the parent. There is no way to log this. Nobody would take this information. Apart from anything else it's a MASSIVE overreach of state power to police adults' behaviour when they aren't even pregnant yet! Think about it. I absolutely assure you that if a MASH officer received a call about a woman planning to get pregnant they would politely advise the caller to call back if and when a pregnancy exists.

Yeah I don’t mean to stereotype but is the kind of feckless woman who has all her kids taken away by social services really going to be some high flyer making enough for private IVF costs

I paid for 6 private cycles or IVF from 2008 - 2011. We had to have a GP referral and we also had to complete the ‘Welfare of the child’ information along with counselling etc. I can actually remember being quite annoyed at some of the questions we were asked being that couple who don’t require IVF are not asked the same! However, I digress!

Id personally report her now.

You are stereotyping. Women can be abusive in all income brackets.

I’m a social worker, you can’t

My private clinic in the south of England told me that some of their patients told their GP that they had conceived naturally and that I did not need to inform the GP about IVF if I did not want to. I had no reason not to inform anyone, as it happened I did also have treatment abroad so obviously no way to check.

I also worked in social services and there was no way on our local authority system to flag a child not yet conceived, if there was some ongoing involvement with the parents perhaps a conversation could have been had with them but when entering details of a ‘yet to be born’ child we would put an estimated due date. We weren’t supposed to call them ‘Unborn Jones’ or similar. Some adults, mainly women, would have had several unborns linked to their profile.

I don't know how it works, I'd imagine they'd be a level of safeguarding involved but I don't know for sure. If you do find out shes pregnant, notify social services immediately.

What you mean is as a social worker you would ignore such reports. It is therefore unsurprising how much abuse goes unaddressed when social workers say ‘the system says no so I am not going to pay any attention to your report’.

But as a member of the public, failures of social service systems does not stop me from reporting such issues.

Jesus H Christ please read responses properly. There is no baby. There is no pregnancy. It's literally impossible to report a not as yet conceived baby to social services. There is nothing a social worker could legally do about a woman intending to get pregnant. The report can only be made AFTER she is actually pregnant. How are so many people not grasping this?

It sounds like she must be well into her late thirties/early forties if she has already had multiple children taken away and grown up so the chances of a successful pregancy are pretty slim (the Katie Price nonsense was shown to all be a stupid publicity stunt, she never actually had IVF - and social servcie were already involved with her other children with the younger 2 removed and still not back with her so any baby would have been removed I'm sure).

Maybe not worth stressing about until/if she gets pregnant then let SS know.

IVF/fertility treatment at private clinics definitely does not currently require any GP or parenting suitability checks - at least nowhere I looked at, and I researched a few. But as others have said, antenatal appointments will include this kind of check.

Deleted. Posted without RTFT!

Why on earth do you think IVF clinics ask about social services, or welfare issues if there is no baby?