but it’s not just the authorities that need to change their attitude but society as a whole. If someone posted here for instance that they knew a family living in filth they would be told not to judge, perhaps the mother has mh issues, perhaps she needs support and the poster should be the one to offer it, etc etc.
We need to stop reacting when ss do remove a baby and stop vilifying them.
We need to accept that sometimes a baby has to be removed before something happens, not after.
There is currently a poster in legal whose baby was removed shortly after birth and is to be placed for adoption because she has serious mh issues, has attempted suicide and her issues are such that she needs to go into a long-term therapy programme. It is desperately sad that it has come to this, but SS have acted by the book, and the baby’s long-term future is considered best by being adopted.
And yet there are plenty of posters on that thread calling them baby snatchers and the like. When reality is we do not know at what risk that baby is because of the op’s issues, and her psychiatrist doesn’t anticipate a change for at least a year. So what should happen – should the baby be left with her until something happens to it? In the hope that it doesn’t? Or perhaps the baby is best off at this point being brought up in a loving home, adopted at a time in its life when attachment issues are likely to be less, rather than ss waiting a couple of years and hoping it won’t come to that?
Devastating for the mother – of course. But not as devastating as it would be for the baby if she didn’t come through her issues.