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Feminism: chat

My baby was stolen in the secret family courts!

63 replies

SarahSully · 05/02/2024 11:47

I am sharing this in attempt to raise awareness of systematic abuse that affects tens of thousands of people in the UK, who have been systematically abused by our so called public 'services'.

Mine is a case of multiple counts of NHS negligence, which then led to a social services referral behind my back, resulting in the very hasty and covert removal of my 11 week old baby, before I had chance to even know what was going on, or defend myself, and without any of the so-called ‘professionals’ checking their mistakes before allowing social services to destroy my life, and my children’s lives.

To give a brief overview, I was falsely diagnosed with a mental illness that I didn’t have in the early 1990’s, as a 12 year old child. This happened because I was being physically abused at home, and I was emotionally reacting to it. My abusers wanted it covered up, so took me to a psychiatrist where I was portrayed as mentally ill, and ‘making up’ the allegations of physical abuse ‘for attention’.

I was falsely diagnosed, and unnecessarily medicated with anti-psychotics, even though I had never suffered from psychosis.

This psychiatrist was later, in 2004, struck off the medical register by the GMC for falsely diagnosing and unnecessarily medicating numerous children and toddlers throughout his career, not just myself.

Unbeknownst to me, this false diagnosis remained on my medical record, and although I had my first child many years ago, and nothing happened, because the records were paper then, when I had my most recent child, this false diagnosis popped up on the hospital ‘Paris’ database 4 days after my baby’s birth, and a midwife on the maternity unit accessed it, and assumed that I had concealed a mental illness’ in my pregnancy, without disclosing it, but did not bother to clarify this with me, before sharing the information.

This resulted in a multi-agency attack being launched on me, behind my back, whilst I was completely unaware, and also birth injured after a traumatic forceps birth, and on crutches, alone caring for my newborn.

I was relentlessly bombarded and harrassed by midwives, doctors and health visitors for the first 3 months after my baby’s birth, and nobody would tell me why. I knew it wasn’t normal because I’d had another child previously, and none of this happened then. But despite my questions, nobody would tell me why.

When my baby was 10 weeks old, I was forced, under false pretences, to bring my baby back to hospital, due to the ‘professionals’ concern about the mental illness which I did not have, and as a result of their false beliefs regarding that mental illness that I did not have, my choice to exclusively breastfeed my baby.

The consultant neonatologist instructed me to bring my baby back to hospital, under the guise that they were going to investigate my baby’s colic and reflux symptoms, but in reality, the consultant had instructed two wards full of nursing staff to lie to me, for an entire week, about why my child was really in hospital, and their intention really was to ‘monitor me’ for this mental illness that I didn’t have.

The consultants entry into my baby’s medical notes, when I was forced to bring my baby back to hospital, reads “We have not told Ms….. the truth about this admission, as we do not believe that she would comply”.

All so-called ‘professionals’ LIED to me in order to get me to bring my baby back into hospital, and they continued to lie, for an entire week about the real reason why my baby was there.

I had no idea that it was actually legal to lie to a parent who has full capacity, about the reason why their child is in hospital, but apparently, it is 🤷‍♀️

These were purely assumptions that they were acting on, and they passed these assumptions and unnecessary suspicions on to others. I was never asked, nor given a chance.

I was falsely told, after 10 weeks of being harassed, bombarded and further traumatised by constant appointments where no useful help, support or advice was ever given, that I should bring my baby back to hospital so that they could help with my baby’s colic and reflux problems, which my baby had since been diagnosed with and medicated for, but that I so far, had not been given any useful help or support for.

I was irritated that I had been left to cope for 10 weeks with no support, while I was birth injured and on crutches, caring for my baby alone, but I was relieved that they were finally intending to do something. Or so I thought.

So I brought my baby back to hospital as requested, and was then further lied to by ALL hospital staff, on both wards we attended, under the directions of this consultant, for an entire week. All staff had been informed of my (incorrect!) mental health status and had been instructed to observe and document against me accordingly.

I was continually provoked and goaded into an emotional reaction by these so-called medical ‘professionals’.

There were numerous incidents which were created by hospital staff in order to provoke a reaction in me, and towards the end of the week, completely exhausted and in pain, recently post-natal, and worn down, I did naturally emotionally react, and this was duly documented, and then used to obtain a court order on the grounds that I was ‘concealing a serious mental illness’ and ‘starving my baby’ because I had chosen to exclusively breastfeed my baby.

I was treated so badly during this week that we were in hospital with under false pretences, that it genuinely did negatively affect my mental health, naturally. I was repeatedly lied to, manipulated, gaslighted and treated with contempt and unkindness. I had nobody to defend me or stand up for me while I was vulnerable.

The advice that I was given regarding my baby’s reflux was constantly conflicting, depending on who was giving the advice, and I was then blamed for choosing one course of action, over another, depending on who I was confronted by.

This was also later used against me in family court. I couldn’t win, no matter what I did.

One example of this was that I was advised by the hospital dietitian, during this week that my daughter was re-admitted, to eliminate dairy from my diet incase my babys colic and reflux issues were being caused by a cows milk protein allergy, which might have been passing to her through my breastmilk. I did as was advised, then later on that very same day, I was told that the hospital could not accommodate a dairy free diet, and was then told by one of the paediatricians (still on this same day!) that I should give my baby dairy-based formula. When I enquired if she might be able to have a dairy-free formula, based on the advise I had been given earlier that day, about keeping my baby dairy free to avoid the symptoms my baby had been experiencing possibly being as a result of a cows milk protein allergy, I was told no, that they would have to wait to see if my baby developed a reaction to the dairy-based formula first before they would prescribe a dairy free formula 😵‍💫🤯

I was left bewildered at the numerous incidences of conflicting advice, and simply had to make a decision on what I thought was best as a parent.

Of course, later on, I was blamed and vilified for this, and accused of ‘not following medical advice’. Which particular medical advice was I supposed to follow!? Whatever I chose, it was wrong, and then used against me.

When I explained that I WAS following medical advice, but that I was countless times being given conflicting advice, and that I didn’t know which advise to choose, and simply had to make educated guesses, based on my own research, and what I felt was best for my baby, nobody cared, and I was blamed anyway. I ended up choosing to continue exclusive breastfeeding on a dairy-free diet, and followed the advice of IBCLC lactation specialists, as they are the experts when it comes to breastfeeding.

I was later criticised for this, and it was used against me as a reason for my baby being removed from my care. Because of my historical false mental health diagnosis, I was obviously wrongfully deemed as not being able to make sound decisions, without anybody even explaining to me what they wrongfully believed regarding my mental health. If they had, I would easily have been able to point them to the public record showing that the diagnosing doctor had been struck off many years ago. It is accessible via a simple google search. I also would have been able to offer to be psychologically evaluated BEFORE they ripped my baby from my arms, which I was not given the opportunity to do, because I didn’t even know what they were doing until they had already done it!

I have three IBCLC breastfeeding specialist statements, showing that I diligently followed all the advice that they give for exclusive breastfeeding, and that the hospital had in fact failed to follow two seperate protocols for exclusively breastfed babies, but this was again ignored, and I was blamed. Because I was wrongfully being judged as somebody who was ‘concealing a mental illness’.

I was repeatedly lied to by health professionals, and I was even falsely accused of trying to remove my baby from the hospital, and a very public security situation was deliberately escalated by hospital staff, in the foyer of the hospital, when I was simply taking my baby for a walk in her pram down to the hospital concourse, to get a cup of coffee, as I had done every single other day previously since her re-admission, with full agreement from ward staff, with no issue whatsoever.

This particular day however, without warning, I was pounced on by staff and security upon leaving the lift, and publicly humiliated and disrespected, for the best part of an hour in the hospital foyer, people were even filming the interaction on their phones, until I was eventually forced to bring my baby back to the ward. Nobody would give me any explanation for why this particular day was different to all the rest. My distress was put down to my ‘mental health problems’ rather than the true reason - The abuse that was relentlessly being perpetrated on me by the hospital staff.

This was obviously documented in the hospital notes as me ‘putting my baby at risk’, which was SO very far from the truth. It was the so-called ‘professionals’ who had unnecessarily caused so much distress, when I was simply just taking my baby for a walk in the pram to break up the day, as I had done every day previously, with no issue whatsoever.

This situation was completely unwarranted and uncalled for, but I believe it was deliberately engineered in order to create records against me, in order to have ‘evidence’ to be able to get a court order to remove my my baby from my care.

The paediatrician responsible for the referral to social services has a reputation for falsely accusing parents of FII and making an inordinately high number of ‘child protection referrals. He has previously been involved in the 2004 Roy Meadows scandal, and was previously investigated by the GMC. He is very well known in the local family courts for making an extortionately high number of ‘child protection’ referrals.

It was recorded in my baby’s hospital notes that staff had had to ‘de-escalate’ an ‘emergency situation’, but this is completely untrue. In reality, they had created the situation for no justifiable reason, simply to be able to document against me, and further portray me as mentally ill, ‘dysregulated’, and ‘unstable’, and to engineer an excuse to start ‘child protection’ proceedings.

A particular nurse was called to ‘talk to me’. I later learned that this was a mental health nurse! Nobody informed me of this at the time though.

To this day, none of these so-called ‘professionals’ who participated in this negligence, resulting in the torture that I have been living with every day for the last 4 and a half years, even know that I was never actually mentally ill, and that they had been given false information via the multi-agency information sharing facility.

I was naturally extremely distressed by this ‘security’ incident, and I naturally refused to have involvement with any of the staff who had participated in the hospital foyer incident after that. This was then again used against me to portray me as ‘difficult’, and ‘not engaging with medical professionals’.

I was repeatedly lied to and tricked by the hospital staff on numerous occasions. I had also started to become suspicious because my baby’s reflux seemed to be completely better, but nobody would tell me when my baby could be discharged.

I was still not told, even at this point, the REAL reason for my baby’s re-admission to hospital. I was still being falsely given the impression that the reason for my daughters re-admittance to hospital was to assist with her apparent colic and reflux symptoms, which she was being medicated with Ranitadine for, and which appeared to have totally subsided by this point. I asked about discharge, given that she appeared to be so much better, and was given no straight answer.

My babys father had also left me to deal with all of this on my own for the entire week, and only re-appeared at the end of the week, when I was emotionally at breaking point, and when I had been relentlessly persecuted by the professionals with no defence. He had no understanding of what had gone on in his absence, and did not make any attempt to defend me, instead, siding with those who were abusing me. He obviously wanted to be in their favour, and cared more about this than protecting the mother of his child. He knew very well about the false diagnosis I had received from the struck off doctor as a child, and had known about it for the entirety of our 6 year relationship, but he did not attempt to clarify this with anybody, at any point.

Very shortly after my baby’s father reappeared, during a ward round, the Dr who is notorious for the numerous ‘child protection’ referrals, finally admitted to me, the real reason that my baby had actually been re-admitted to hospital. This was after a week of us being there.

He blurted it out very quickly, with no sensitivity towards the fact that I had been lied to for the entire week we were there about the reason my child was in hospital, and lied to for three months prior to this about the false assumptions regarding my mental health status.

I was quite naturally furious and in shock at this news, that I had been lied to this entire time, by ALL hospital staff, and I was certain that the hospital must have somehow broken laws by refusing to inform me, as a parent with full capacity, about my child, and felt extremely unsafe being in this environment with these dishonest people, that were supposed to be ‘caring’ for my baby.

The doctor only said a few words to me after that, simply that I was “starving” my baby by breastfeeding, and that I needed “help for my mental health”.

I was so stunned, I did not have chance to respond before he left the room. He had no business discerning anything to do with my mental health, even if it had actually been true, being a paediatrician, and not a psychiatrist, and having never even had a conversation with me before. However, that was it, and then he was gone.

Also, my baby was completely healthy, and shown to be well nourished and hydrated, and I have copious evidence to prove that. They had been weighing her nappies at every nappy change (they lied and told me that this was routine), and she was always very well hydrated, active and alert.

I was in shock and confused and absolutely appalled. A short while later, I realised that the doctor still had not told me when my baby would be discharged, and I asked a nurse if I could speak to him again. She came back to me a few minutes later to that say a doctor would be round at the end of the ward round.

So I waited for around 5 hours, and eventually, in walked a doctor. But it was a psychiatrist, not the paediatrician I had been led to believe that I was expecting, accompanied with a social worker.

I had been tricked again. The behaviour of all involved in this dishonesty towards me was nothing short of abhorrent.

The psychiatrist had been sent to section me, but interestingly, after a brief chat with her, she fully agreed that my distress under the circumstances that I had just described to her, and the way that I had been treated and lied to repeatedly during the hospital stay, she felt that my distress therefore seemed to be very proportional and appropriate to her. She therefore refused to section me, and she very swiftly signed me off, and left.

However, the social worker (obviously fully expecting that I would be sectioned, given my false mental health record), had come to get a baby removed from parental care, and she was still hell bent on continuing with that mission, regardless of the fact that the psychiatrist had no concerns.

This social worker was absolutely vile. She openly laughed at my distress repeatedly, and would not explain the reason why she was actually there, because I still did not understand. My baby was perfectly healthy, and I could not for the life of me understand why she was being kept in hospital for no apparent reason. I had no idea of what was still to come. I was given no warning.

I did not know it at the time, but ‘child protection’ procedures had already been actioned, behind my back, without my knowledge, now that enough ‘evidence’ had been created (in the form of hospital staff negatively and falsely recording in the notes, due to their false belief that I was concealing a mental illness) in order to justify an ‘Emergency Protection Order’, and a secret ‘strategy meeting’ was then held behind my back without my knowledge, where all involved voted, on the basis of the false information provided to them, regarding my historical mental health, and my choice to exclusively breastfeed my baby, that my baby should be removed from my care.

The entirety of the information that had been shared with those present during this secret ‘strategy meeting’, was entirely and demonstrably false. I can still evidence against every single point, but nobody wants to know about the evidence. It took 3 years for me to obtain the minutes of that meeting via Subject Access Request, as the local authority were refusing to give me a copy. I eventually had to report them to the ICO, and at that point, they sent me the minutes of the meeting. I then discovered that every single bit of information shared with those strangers in that meeting, was inaccurate and false, and that I could evidence against all of it! By this time, I had already been kept away from my daughter for 3 years, and I did not get the opportunity to challenge it.

Nevertheless, because of the fact that I still had not been made aware of what was going on behind my back, without my knowledge, and because of the fact that I was unable to obtain the minutes of the meeting to be able to ascertain exactly what exact false information had been shared at this ‘strategy meeting’ for 3 years; on the basis of this information, an unanimous decision was made by the individuals present at the strategy meeting, who had mostly never met me, on the basis of this demonstrably false information, that my daughter should be removed from my care under a section 47.

At this point, after the secret ‘strategy meeting’ had concluded, I was then banned from the hospital ward that my baby was on by two police officers, shortly after their attendance at this secret Strategy Meeting, where this false information about my mental health, and the assumptions regarding my choice to breastfeed my baby, which had been made by the medical ‘professionals’ who had wrongfully ‘viewed me through the lens’ of someone concealing a serious mental illness.

I was only given 40 minutes notice via telephone about the court hearing by the social worker. She again laughed at my distress and confusion, refused to answer any of my questions, and hung up the phone on me without explaining why I even needed to attend court, which I still was not clear on.

My partner was immediately encouraged by both social services and the Cafcass ‘Guardian’ to leave the hospital and to attend the court without me, despite the fact that they knew that I was birth injured, on crutches since my daughters birth,unable to drive at that time due to the birth injury, and I was not even informed of what the court hearing was actually for.

I actually thought that I must be in trouble for arguing with the paediatrician about the abhorrent way that I had been treated during this week that my daughter had been re-admitted to hospital under false pretences, and the fact that I had been lied to. I had no idea, and I was given no warning whatsoever of the fact that the intention was actually to remove my daughter from my care.

I firmly believe the intention of making my daughters father leave the hospital and go to the court without me, and only giving me 40 minutes notice, was that I would not make it to court in time for the hearing, and they would then be able to falsely portray me as a mother who didn’t care, and get the result that they clearly wanted, in my absence.

I also believe that the intention was eventually that my daughter would be placed for adoption, and they thought that this was going to be an easy and quick process, given my mental health history.

Many people are not aware that childrens social care was financially incentivised by Tony Blair in 2008, and ‘successful’ adoptions currently earn the local authority £35,565 per child, in government grants. Obviously the younger the child, and especially healthy children, the easier they are to place for adoption. My baby was only 11 weeks old at this point, and had no long term medical illness, so she would have been very easy and straightforward to place for adoption, and would probably have been selected for adoption very quickly, and been very easy money for the local authority.

My baby was then removed from my care without any accurate evidence, less than 24 hours after this secret ‘strategy meeting’ which I was not invited to.

I of course told the family court I was not, and had never been mentally ill, and explained the situation regarding the false diagnosis and the struck off psychiatrist, but I was still not given the opportunity beforehand to be psychologically evaluated to be able to prove that I was not, and had never been mentally ill, and nobody bothered to access the public record that I pointed them to.

I was actually not given the opportunity to be psychologically evaluated until 8 weeks AFTER my baby’s removal from my care, which then inevitably showed that I do not have a mental illness.

Of course, by this time, my baby was already with a foster carer, and nobody wanted to backtrack on their mistakes, or admit fault.

I had no idea that my baby was being removed from my care, until I arrived at the court, and I read in a file that I was given, which stated that a foster carer was already waiting at the hospital, waiting to take my baby. I had no idea of this before this point. The foster carer was obviously told about it long before I was.

By the time I had returned to the hospital from the court, my precious baby had already been taken by the foster carer, and was gone. I had no idea where she was, or who she was with, and this remained the situation for the next 6 months. The foster carer had been told by the social workers, that I had ‘starved’ my baby.

I was left that evening on my own, to get home from the hospital, still on crutches after the birth, to a house full of baby items, with no baby, and without my partner, who had already been threatened that he must immediately end our relationship if he wanted to avoid our daughter being adopted.

There was no follow up from either the hospital, the police, or from social services.

If I had genuinely been mentally ill, as they all still believed me to be at that time, their horrific actions would surely have resulted in my suicide, but nobody appeared to care at all, now they had successfully taken my baby.

This was 4 and a half years ago now, and although I have now done subject access requests on absolutely everything, and I have painstakingly pieced together all the Chinese whispers that occurred behind my back with the so-called ‘professionals’, and the mistakes that were made in the removal of my baby from my care, but as soon as it was rushed into the family court, before I even knew what was happening, nobody from the outside could then intervene from that point, not the police, not the hospital who originally made the mistakes that put me in that position, and not even my local MP.

The only people who have any control over the situation, or who can make any changes to my situation now, are social services and the family court, and they have both done their absolute utmost to ensure that their backsides are firmly covered for the mistakes that they made.

And because the family court is a closed and secret ‘court’, with no scrutiny and accountability from the outside, and because of the fact that the same family court judge who initially made the ruling on false information has reserved the case to come back to her each time I’ve made a court application, they have very easily managed to keep me locked into a loop of neverending hell for the last 4 and a half years, caring only about protecting their own interests and jobs, and having no thought for my child who has been deprived of a decent loving mother unnecessarily for the last 4 and a half years, along with being alienated from her older sibling, and her entire maternal family.

There are no witnesses in family court, and therefore no way of challenging the judges behaviour, or her determination of anything. There is absolutely no scrutiny of a judges behaviour from the outside, and therefore, they can get away with anything unchallenged. And they continue to do so.

Given that it was NHS malfeasance, negligence and carelessness that created the situation that opened me up to unnecessary social services involvement, my intention was to take action for the medical negligence that was committed against me and my child. Both in the false childhood diagnosis I was given 30 years ago by the psychiatrist who was struck off, that caused this whole situation, but also the way that I was treated and the false narrative that was created as a result of the assumptions made by those NHS ‘professionals’ who wrongfully judged me as mentally ill from that 30 year old diagnosis after my baby’s birth, which put us into the jaws of social services, and which myself and my children are still paying the price for, whilst all the NHS staff involved in doing this to my family, remain unpunished. The NHS have so far refused to accept my complaint, and I have been unable to take any action against any of the individuals who are responsible for causing the situation that myself and my children still continue to live in 4 and a half years later, separated from each other. None of these individuals have been held accountable, and they are all still currently working in their jobs, having never been held to account for their negligence and malfeasance.

Thank you for reading

OP posts:
DdyDaisyDaresYou · 05/02/2024 12:00

I'm sorry for all of this, and can only wish you luck in getting your child back and undoing some of the damage done to you all.

There are journalists & barristers highlighting the unjustness of family courts - I can't remember the journalists name right now but the barrister is Lucy Reed

SimpleSanta · 05/02/2024 12:10

Wow, I'm so sorry, OP.

I e experienced some of what's happened to you, although my children were never taken. They tried their best to, even knowing that the three children would be separated from each other in different homes.

There are serious failings in children's services that nobody wants to talk about - especially in cases like this where the child is being taken way. There's a lot of naïveté. Things aren't out in the open.

I wish you all the best, it is a long road.

OneMorePlant · 05/02/2024 13:08

This is horrifying. I hope you find a good barrister that will rectify everything and sue for damages.

ScierraDoll · 05/02/2024 13:41

Well that is a harrowing account. It seems that the whole world was against you or at least it seemed that way to you.
There are concerns about the "secrecy" of Family Courts although that has to be balanced against the sensitive nature of these proceedings. I would hate to see a situation where Family Court proceedings became something akin to a legal Jeremy Kyle programme.
You say everyone was against you but the Judge would have been guided by the Guardian Ad Litem, a professional independent of Social Services, NHS or anyone else, whose sole focus is what is in the child's best interests. You would also have been entitles to legal represention in those proceedings funded in most cases by legal aid.
Was everyone who ever had any involvement with you over your life part of this conspiracy?

DdyDaisyDaresYou · 05/02/2024 14:21

ScierraDoll · 05/02/2024 13:41

Well that is a harrowing account. It seems that the whole world was against you or at least it seemed that way to you.
There are concerns about the "secrecy" of Family Courts although that has to be balanced against the sensitive nature of these proceedings. I would hate to see a situation where Family Court proceedings became something akin to a legal Jeremy Kyle programme.
You say everyone was against you but the Judge would have been guided by the Guardian Ad Litem, a professional independent of Social Services, NHS or anyone else, whose sole focus is what is in the child's best interests. You would also have been entitles to legal represention in those proceedings funded in most cases by legal aid.
Was everyone who ever had any involvement with you over your life part of this conspiracy?

I don't think its appropriate to dismiss her account as "conspiracy"

SimpleSanta · 05/02/2024 14:25

@ScierraDoll

The judge has very little involvement with the family. They never meet the children. They will have never even heard op speak.

Everyone in a child protection case forms their opinion based on their testimony of others in the court bundle. If an expert gets it wrong, it doesn't matter. That's what everyone focuses on, not the parent who is distressed and scrambling about.

Usually, this is where the judge would intervene and put a stop to things, which is what happened to my family. The local authority got they're arse handed to them, and from what she said in her closing comments, this isn't the first time this has happened.

There is a lot of unprofessional and even corruption (yes, a big word, even if it's not always intentional). I think your last sentence is unnecessary and to me, says that you haven't been involved in the family court process.

SimpleSanta · 05/02/2024 14:30

And until you get legal counsel, you are screwed. It would have been impossible for OP, a new mum, with no idea she is even being investigated, to put up any kind of a fight. She can't defend herself.

Experts and healthcare professionals are now chiming in and she's not given the opportunity to defend herself or offer any counter evidence.

Please don't dismiss her story, she came here for support and advice.

TheShellBeach · 05/02/2024 14:40

I'm so sorry to have read this, OP. What a harrowing account.

Is there anything that any of us can do to help you?

Divebar2021 · 05/02/2024 14:44

I’m curious about where the baby is now and why she didn’t go with her father? Are you still with your first child?

Iudncuewbccgrcb · 05/02/2024 14:45

So I'm guessing the child is with her father / father's side of the family and hasn't been adopted?

It's not true about local authorities being paid per adoption by the way. Even if your figure was correct it would cost them far more than that in legal fees, staff time etc. If they outsource finding the adoption placement to a private agency which a lot of local authorities do then that's potentially the fee the local authority pays to that private agency per successful adoption.

The local authority as the decision makers don't benefit financially from adoptions.

Iudncuewbccgrcb · 05/02/2024 14:47

Divebar2021 · 05/02/2024 14:44

I’m curious about where the baby is now and why she didn’t go with her father? Are you still with your first child?

I think she is with her father/father's family.

Somewhere in the OP it mentions the father was told to cease his relationship with the OP to avoid having the child adopted and later on it says that the child has no contact with her maternal family.

RowanMayfair · 05/02/2024 14:51

SimpleSanta · 05/02/2024 14:30

And until you get legal counsel, you are screwed. It would have been impossible for OP, a new mum, with no idea she is even being investigated, to put up any kind of a fight. She can't defend herself.

Experts and healthcare professionals are now chiming in and she's not given the opportunity to defend herself or offer any counter evidence.

Please don't dismiss her story, she came here for support and advice.

But she would have had legal counsel. From the moment the application was made to court she would have done. If half the things had happened that she states in this post her barristers would have torn the case to pieces.

RowanMayfair · 05/02/2024 14:53

Many people are not aware that childrens social care was financially incentivised by Tony Blair in 2008, and ‘successful’ adoptions currently earn the local authority £35,565 per child, in government grants.

this is a LIE. It costs upwards of £30k just to issue care proceedings leaving aside all the other expenses (foster care, salaries of dozens of professionals involved, independent assessments etc) there is absolutely ZERO financial incentive to removing children for adoption. It's really expensive.

MoreRainClouds · 05/02/2024 14:59

I know someone with a similar ‘story’. And it is a story. There were very real reasons for the child being removed despite the parents insistence that there wasn’t. When trying to convinced everyone, the parents introduced us to others in the same situation and within weeks of knowing them, it was obvious there were also genuine reasons for their children being removed.

Hopefully your child is now safe and well cared for.

flipent · 05/02/2024 15:14

This just doesn't make sense - it cannot be the whole story.

MrsTerryPratchett · 05/02/2024 15:16

MoreRainClouds · 05/02/2024 14:59

I know someone with a similar ‘story’. And it is a story. There were very real reasons for the child being removed despite the parents insistence that there wasn’t. When trying to convinced everyone, the parents introduced us to others in the same situation and within weeks of knowing them, it was obvious there were also genuine reasons for their children being removed.

Hopefully your child is now safe and well cared for.

Me as well. I'm not saying OP doesn't deserve to get representation and explanations. But most people whose children are removed don't agree. And IME there are very good reasons in most cases.

PaulCostinRIP · 05/02/2024 15:22

Facebook has many people with similar stories. I will share your story as I do theirs.

I wish you ever luck and success in getting your baby back.

MoreRainClouds · 05/02/2024 15:39

This just doesn't make sense - it cannot be the whole story.

Of course it’s not. People don’t have their kids taken off them without very good reason. In fact, children are usually left in the care of bad parents for far too long whilst their parents are monitored and given many chances to prove they can care for their child and work with social services. I don’t think mumsnet should allow its website to be a platform for these bullshit tales.

EddieMunson · 05/02/2024 15:45

RowanMayfair · 05/02/2024 14:53

Many people are not aware that childrens social care was financially incentivised by Tony Blair in 2008, and ‘successful’ adoptions currently earn the local authority £35,565 per child, in government grants.

this is a LIE. It costs upwards of £30k just to issue care proceedings leaving aside all the other expenses (foster care, salaries of dozens of professionals involved, independent assessments etc) there is absolutely ZERO financial incentive to removing children for adoption. It's really expensive.

And the £35,565 payment wouldn’t be relevant in the OP’s situation anyway, as the baby went to live with the father and wasn’t adopted. So the OP suggesting a financial incentive makes even less sense.

MyGooseisTotallyLoose · 05/02/2024 15:47

MoreRainClouds · 05/02/2024 15:39

This just doesn't make sense - it cannot be the whole story.

Of course it’s not. People don’t have their kids taken off them without very good reason. In fact, children are usually left in the care of bad parents for far too long whilst their parents are monitored and given many chances to prove they can care for their child and work with social services. I don’t think mumsnet should allow its website to be a platform for these bullshit tales.

Absolutely agree with this.

EddieMunson · 05/02/2024 15:48

MoreRainClouds · 05/02/2024 15:39

This just doesn't make sense - it cannot be the whole story.

Of course it’s not. People don’t have their kids taken off them without very good reason. In fact, children are usually left in the care of bad parents for far too long whilst their parents are monitored and given many chances to prove they can care for their child and work with social services. I don’t think mumsnet should allow its website to be a platform for these bullshit tales.

Yes, somehow the people with these stories have all been the victim of numerous NHS staff, social services staff and the entire legal system conspiring against them to steal their child because… they’re just so desperate to add more children to the overburdened care system??

Babadook76 · 05/02/2024 15:51

DdyDaisyDaresYou · 05/02/2024 14:21

I don't think its appropriate to dismiss her account as "conspiracy"

It couldn’t have been anything BUT a conspiracy for this many independent agencies to all declare the op an unfit mother. Even her partner immediately sided with social services upon the op’s admittance. And the cost of removing the op’s baby from her, along with the hospital stay, all of the involvement from multiple medical professionals, plus the court case, would far outweigh the amount the op seems to think they make from getting her baby adopted. A lot of what she said simply cannot be true, as that’s not how it works. There’s a huge amount of the story missing from here, believe me

SimpleSanta · 05/02/2024 16:00

But she would have had legal counsel. From the moment the application was made to court she would have done. If half the things had happened that she states in this post her barristers would have torn the case to pieces.

The investigation started before the application to court was made. I've been in this process and it was a period of months before you get legal aid. Up until that point, you're clueless and dealing solely with social workers and other professionals.

twnety · 05/02/2024 16:02

I have a relative who has something similar. Not to this extent, but believes the hospital were conspiring against her.

It's hard to believe because its so extreme. I do find it hard that a group of people all gang up on a single person, why would they? What's in it for them?

As above, it costs money to do so, money they don't have

SimpleSanta · 05/02/2024 16:05

twnety · 05/02/2024 16:02

I have a relative who has something similar. Not to this extent, but believes the hospital were conspiring against her.

It's hard to believe because its so extreme. I do find it hard that a group of people all gang up on a single person, why would they? What's in it for them?

As above, it costs money to do so, money they don't have

Could say the same about the police, no? Or are they another infallible Great British service? I find it fascinating that people put their full trust in some service and not others.

People have a lot to lose of a child is being harmed. They can lose their job, be convicted. People have little to lose if they make a recommendation believed to be in the child's interests.

If one or two other expert witnesses say so, you'll be inclined to agree.

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