PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE TAKE A MINUTE TO SIGN THIS PETITION!!!

[Beenleigh]

You may have heard the story of Fran Lyon. If not, then this is a simplified version.

Fran is currently 31 weeks pregnant with her first baby
When Fran was sixteen years old, she was the victim of a serious sexual assault, and as a result, she suffered from mental health issues. She received therapy for two years, one year as an inpatient, and less than one following her discharge. She has not received or needed any mental health therapy since that time, and the psychiatrist that treated her has explicitly stated that she has no concerns whatsoever for Fran's mental health.

Unfortunately, early on in Fran?s pregnancy, there was a difficult situation with her (then) partner, and Fran called the police. Due to the nature of the problem and combined with the fact that Fran was pregnant, the police referred the case to social services. Fran was completely honest and open about her past mental health issues, and clear that she no longer suffered from any such problems. However, a ball had started rolling out of control, and a paediatrician, who has never actually met or spoken to Fran, has inexplicably suggested that she may in due course suffer from Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy. This has resulted in social services deciding that upon her birth, Fran?s baby daughter, Molly, will be taken away from her.

It is abundantly clear that Fran Lyon will be absolutely no danger to her baby, but we suggest that at the very least, Fran should at be allowed to stay in an assessment unit with her baby, Molly, pending an inevitable decision that she is capable of caring for her daughter independently.

Please take a few minutes to watch this clip of Fran being interviewed on This Morning: uk.youtube.com/watch?v=2qHcH_Eaocg

Please please sign the petition here: www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/539543596

Also, please could you copy and paste this post and send it as an email to as many people as possible, obviously feeling free to correct my crappy spelling and grammar!

Many Thanks

Aha! Sorry!! Thanks for explaining!

Talk to you later!

Fran

Early evening bump!

467!

Goodnight bump 477!!

was this covered on gmtv at all?

oh yes it was i remember now!!

do you think something like loose women or jeremy kyle would cover a story like this?? i remember jeremy kyle doing an episode about drug addiction where people came on and told of their past and how to get over it so i know he doesn't just do friends and families rowing about god knows what.

Best of luck today Fran!

i found this on a bbc chat room, i have no idea if it's true or not, but thought u might be interested anyway.
Message 56 - posted by azdak1 (U10324360) , Yesterday

This article in Community Care is a balanced view from someone independent. I am not. I have known Fran Lyon for over 3 years through my professional relationship with Borderline UK. There is more to this case than is or should be in the public domain and Horwich AllStars2 is right to have asked the questions (s)he has about the full circumstances.

A case conference early next month will take a decision, largely based on psychiatric evidence, as to whether it is in the child's best interest to be referred to a mother and baby unit or not. No such decision has yet been taken one way or the other.

Fran is a beautiful, charming, highly intelligent young woman with an unusually comprehensive knowledge of medical conditions which may be relevant to her circumstances. She is also a skilled manipulator and fantasist about her own life story. My experience of her would lead me not to trust a single fact she may claim, without independent verification.

This is a desperately sad and unfortunate situation as Jonathan's article quite properly notes, but one which Fran has rather wished upon herself. Now, as an outcome, a new life is on its way and that life is the focus of the authorities interest.

I share the concern others have expressed in their posts that this whole episode is alarming and distressing to women who may have presented to the authorities in the past with mild to moderate mental health issues and are now petrified their babies may be at risk from the State. Mistakes are made, it is true, but I believe all social workers would agree that in almost every circumstance a child is better off with its mother. The difficulty here is that there are uniquely complicated circumstances. They really did break the mould after Fran arrived!

One aspect of Fran's health I don't believe she has talked much about is touched on in Jonathan's article. These are her regular emergency admissions to a number of different hospitals with life-threatening traumas. I haven't been counting, but until she knew she was pregnant there must have been between 20 and 30 in the time I have known her.

I sincerely hope an acceptable solution to all parties can be found in this case, although I am not too optimistic. I shall not enter into any further discussion on this board as this is all the intervention I wish to make.

had not heard this before today. have just signed the petition as i'm outraged. i really wish you the best of luck Fran.

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have found it slightly that no-one has yet come out and said "I know this person personally and this is a huge miscarriage of justice..." etc. If this person posting on the bbc site is genuine, and we have no reason to believe that they're not, then it is worrying that someone who knows Fran personally thinks that a review of this situation is necessary.

I still believe there is far more to this than we are being told.

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wannabe there have been several friends of Fran's posting on here including Milliec & the MP John Heming who have had contact with her for some time.

Obviously there are concerns & it is good to raise them as Fran has said but if this Jonathon Gornall has a grudge then he will be negative about her.

Hello,

The post from the BBC site, whilst being wildly inaccurate, is also (I would guess) written by someone who has a far greater personal interest than they have made clear. I don't actually know who wrote it - but I've got a reasonably good idea. All is, in this instance, not as it seems.

I am still not going to go into details about the initial incident that brought social services back into my life. I have said why repeatedly. Goading behaviour from those who know the details, know I won't release them and so I know I can't remove suspicion is foul, amoral and lacking in any compassion or interest for Molly's welfare. Those who have read my previous posts will know I do not make a habit of using such extreme language, and hopefully will conclude that I have good reason to do so here.

Thanks,

Fran

Wannabe, there have been friends and colleagues of Fran's saying exactly that quoted in the media, as well as posting on here.

Someone who has a medical condition may well have repeated hospital admissions - I did during my pregnancy and before.

I obviously don't know the full details of Fran's case but one critical post from someone who may or may not have an axe to grind doesn't mean she's a liar. And she's offered to go into a mother and baby unit to be supervised. Surely she deserves that chance?

There has been a proven series of miscarriages of justice and there has been no big inquiry or review showing lessons have been learned. That's what's so frightening. Whatever you think about Fran, there are very real and desperately serious problems with the way child protection works.

agree edam.

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Brilliant Millie!!

I've had 23 different emails over the w/e from people who have signed this & are spreading it on. My in-box is quivering with indignation!!

Beeny are you have a little celebratory jig around the thread!?

i invited all 400 of my friends on facebook so am hoping that will get us somewhere. only 5 have joined at the moment but i only invited them last night.

Hi All, I am afraid my computer has broken, no idea when it will be fixed, hopefully not too long, but definitely the rest of the week! I can have a quick scan when I come to my friends house, like I'm doing now. Keep us posted about what the new ss lot say Fran. All the best.

Will do Beeny!!

That was a very nasty smear you posted there kizmo, all slanderous content and no substance. It reflects much more badly on the person who wrote it than it does on Fran.

"skilled manipulator" and "fantasist" are slanders routinely trotted out by woman-haters who want to undermine the woman they are attacking.

If that anonymous poster wants to be taken seriously in their claims let them identify themselves and their relationship to Fran rather than hiding under slander and anonymity. Until then it reads more like a poison pen letter than anything else.

and your point by making this post kismo is........?

Spread some shit about someone and then call them a fantastist so implying any rebuttal they give is untrue. Nice.

yes it is particularly nasty when someone is called a skilled manipulator and fantasist as there is little the accused can do to argue theur innocence. Deja Vu...

And on the whole that kind of terminology only suits people who have committed an actual crime...

I'd have thought the reason to post that piece of rubbish would be to try to get people to think twice about signing the petition to support Fran. Nobody likes to think they are being manipulated.

It's one of the reasons why it's so important to post all the background to the MSbP diagnosis and the doctors involved. What's being done to Fran isn't a one-off injustice that stands or falls on her character, it's a systemic problem that has led to countless families being put in her position.