'First, what is the relevance of the assertion that the offence he committed was "immoral"? The city fathers of Darlington and Darlington's Director of Social Services are not guardians of morality. Nor is this court. The justification for State intervention is harm to children, not parental immorality. Secondly, how does any of this translate through to an anticipation of harm to A? The social worker ruminates on the "current risk he poses" to "vulnerable young women"? What has that got to do with care proceedings in relation to the father's one year old son? It is not suggested that there is any risk of the father abusing A. The social worker's analysis is incoherent.'
'Many children, unhappily, have parents who are far from being good role models. But being an inadequate or even a bad role model is not a ground for making care orders, let alone adoption orders.'
Continuing, he joined the EDL in 2013, the social worker saying:
"[He] advised he was previously an active member of the English Defence League however, that this was through naïvity and not having a comprehensive knowledge of the beliefs of the EDL. [He] advised he left the EDL shortly after becoming involved when he realised this group was racist. I challenged [his] understanding of the EDL to which he evidently minimised, [he] advised before the 'new leaders took over there was nothing wrong with the EDL."
". [He] advises to his knowledge he was in this group for a couple of weeks, he then became aware of the violence and inappropriateness of this group and made the immediate decision to 'cut all ties' with this group. The English Defence League is a racist organisation whose main activity is violent street demonstrations against the Muslim community. Although it claims to only oppose Islamic extremism, the EDL appears to target the whole Muslim community and its actions deliberately seek to create and practice tensions and violence between Muslim and non-Muslim communities. It is therefore highly debatable that [he] naively joined such a group out of curiosity and perhaps he follows those beliefs of his fellow, EDL members. Naturally, individuals are entitled to their own views and beliefs, including views regarding other religions however, the distorted thinking of those within the EDL is barbaric and their actions inappropriate. Therefore the mentality of those involved has to be brought into question. Equally, A requires positive role models within his life in order to ensure he is able to make a positive contribution to the world, one that does not promote crime and violence."
"the immoral nature of the values and beliefs of members of the EDL and the violence within the protests EDL members engage in is inappropriate and supports inflicting violence injury to innocent members of the Muslim heritage …
… it is commonly known that this barbaric protestor group promote ignorance and violence in respect of the muslim community … By all means, the assessing social worker supports equality, difference of opinion and that not all races and cultures agree with one another's beliefs and views. What cannot be condoned however is expressing these beliefs through violence, irrational behaviour and inflicting physical and psychological pain against others due to their religion, the core beliefs and subfocus of the English Defence League. e. A should reside within an environment that supports difference, equality and independence. He needs to be taught how to express his views systematically and in a socially acceptable way. A should not reside within an environment whereby violence is openly condoned, supported and practiced. [The father] and J need to appreciate this is the twenty first century, the world is a diverse place whereby all individuals should feel accepted, regardless of their ethnic background, race and origin."
Which is all very well, but it seems grossly naive and/or incompetent for a social worker to assert that every child must grow up in Sharing+Caring paradise.
The judge adds:
" Membership of an extremist group such as the EDL is not ... any basis for care proceedings." "That the local authority should have thought that it could, and that its case should have been expressed in the language used by SW1, much of it endorsed by TM, is concerning." [TM is the social worker's team manager]
He concludes:
"I can accept that the father may not be the best of parents, he may be a less than suitable role model, but that is not enough to justify a care order let alone adoption. We must guard against the risk of social engineering, and that, in my judgment is what, in truth, I would be doing if I was to remove A permanently from his father's care."
and adds that the initial social worker, quoted above, was completely useless, and those responsible for reviewing her work, namely her replacement (as she was on maternity leave), the team manager, and the Children's Guardian, devoted almost no time to doing so, essentially rubber-stamping it without questioning it.
He also says, that given that the council had committed an abuse of the law in taking the child into care after his birth, but then failing to arrange care proceedings for a full nine month - when in reality such periods of care should not last more than a few days.
He finally concludes that the blame for all of this lies firmly with the senior management at Darlington Council
"Only SW1, SW2 and TM were exposed to the forensic process, although much of the responsibility for what I have had to catalogue undoubtedly lies with other, more senior, figures. Why, to take her as an example, should the hapless SW1 be exposed to public criticism and run the risk of being scapegoated when, as it might be thought, anonymous and unidentified senior management should never have put someone so inexperienced in charge of such a demanding case. And why should the social workers SW1, SW2 and TM be pilloried when the legal department, which reviewed and presumably passed the exceedingly unsatisfactory assessments, remains, like senior management, anonymous beneath the radar? It is Darlington Borough Council and its senior management that are to blame, not only SW1, SW2 and TM. It would be unjust to SW1, SW2 and TM to name and shame them when others are not similarly exposed."