aibu NOT to vote tory if they are going to give my mother in law rights over my children!!

[howlatrubymoon]

I cant imagine the rows this would cause in our family!!!!

Surely the parents should be the only ones who ultimatley have care and control of their children.

I agree that if they give up those rights and the child ends up in care then the grandparents should be considered but no more than other close members of family ( and on a case by case basis)

My MIL is a PITA but she still sees the kids albeit not on her terms. I agree with the comment that
'shared DNA mustn't give rights to anyone'

but also have alot of sympathy for those decent non interfering GPs who are kept away suddenly for no real reason. Also, where is the line drawn, what about neighbours/aunties etc and when do the GP see the kids after a seperation, during mums time or dads?

Will there be more tooing and froing between houses? Where will these 'rights' stop, what if they disagree with the parenting etc.

As a mum of DSs i hope to have a good relationship with my DILs/GKids and DSs. I certainly know how not to be!!!(my MIL will help there!!)

Anyway YANBU

thanks piglet but it was a long time ago and my Gran was lovely to me before it happened, and afterwards - was just a very weird stage. I've long since recovered and given what the poor woman went through at the end of her life it seems a little churlish to hold it against her. Loved her very much. Just came to mind when reading the thread.

Haven't read all this thread so sorry if this has already been said. There is nothing in this stuff put out by the Tories - it doesn't actually change the staus quo in any way at all. As someone said it is just being used as a "vot catcher"

The legal situation is that if children are removed from parents and there is no possibility of them being returned, then the local authority in whose care the child is, have a duty to explore whether there is any extended family who could care for the child on a permanent basis, either by way of adoption, long term fostering or special guardianship. Mostly it is GPs who come forward in these cases to care for their GC. I am an independent social worker and am involved in assessing relatives who are making application to care for children in the family. It is a very comprehensive assessment and all sorts of checks are carried out to ensure the suitability of any relatives putting themselves forward to care for these children. If the application is for adoption or Special Guardianship, the matter is finally decided in court by a Judge.

As far as contact is concerned, if the parents divorce and one parent is now allowing contact to GPs, then the GPs then there is the possibility for the GPs to apply to the court for a Contact Order (in the same way that the absent parent can do) under the terms of the Children Act 1989. However GPs have to get leave of the court before they can make such an application. In theory relatives can also apply for a Residence Order on a child for whom they are not the parents (but again they need leave of the court to do so) and this is very rare.

I suppose it is best to make a will and say who you want to care for your children in the event of both parents dying before the cchildren are independent - horrible thought I know but this is something that my kids have done and I think it probably a wise thing to do.

SO typical of the tories and the Daily Mail tto make dramatic headlines that mean nothing

Sorry - meant "not" allowing contact