Judge slams Social Services over forced adoptions

[edam]

this is apalling but sadly doesn't surprise me after all the other cases. 'Best interests of the child' my arse. And see the unbelievably smug comment at the end!

I do hope the father gets legal aid to see a judicial review.

.

I was horrified by this, too. It's as though they just dismissed him altogether as a potential caregiver. Just because the relationship that produced the child was casual does not necessarily mean that the man would be an unsuitable parent.

tbh there is absolutely nothing surprising about this case.

I imagine they're not the only SS dept who carry on like this. This lot just happened to get caught. I bet not one of them will even be disciplined for this, let alone anyone lose their job over it.

It said the baby was born Nov 2006 and the hearing was Jan but no idea of year
Adoptions take ages, I wonder if it was 3 months from birth to adoptions? If it was seems very unfair on him.

What an almighty cock up. For the bio father, for the adoptive parents, for the biological grandparents..... what a mess.

the judges were quite clear that the council had deliberately rushed through the last stages of the adoption, literally the day before the father was due to have his day in court or whatever they call it
the times had a good article about this with more comments by the judge. council completely slated
the only thing I hope for now is that the council is completely taken to the cleaners years from now by that child when they grow up and find out what happened. very sad

It wasn't a cock up. It was deliberate sharp practice.

quite, littlebella, that's pretty much what the judges said.

Morocco, sadly I doubt it. Apparently the Rochdale children, now adults, are too scarred by what they went through at the hands of SS to sue. Unfortunate. Because there is clear evidence in their case of SWs a. telling downright lies and b. tormenting the poor bloody children. And the SWs in that case are still working. Which gives me very little faith in the alleged profession.

Here is what I would like to know.

Were the adoptive parents of this child aware that the father was applying for his child?

And if so, how on EARTH could they have gone through with it?

Are they absolutely devoid of all compassion at all whatsoever?

I could not in all honesty take a child when I knew it had a biological parent who wanted him/her and who was fit to look after him/her and live in good conscience.

Who are these people and what are they told?

My SIL was adopted from foster care when she was 4.

Her condition when she was brought to my ILs home was utterly deplorable - one of extreme neglect and malnutrition and illness brought on by the conditions in which she'd been living.

I have no idea, expat, but I'd be prepared to bet that SS did not tell the adoptive parents. Imagine the difficulty of being an AP who suspected the adoption had not been on the level...

i'd wonder, though, if the child were brought to me in relatively good condition, why it was removed, even if SS told me a story.

because you can tell if it's been bad.

well, at least my ILs could. poor bairn was covered in lice, smelly clothes, had rickets, etc.

they told her the truth, of course, from the get go, and someone told her a few years ago that her birth mother was still alive - although still a junkie.

and the girl actually came with a scrapbook, made for her by her mother's mother, who died shortly after the girl was taken into care.

oh, expat, that's heartbreaking. My mother was adopted, and was bloody lucky as it happens - lots of unwanted babies after WW2, many of them sent off to be abused by very dodgy priests in the dominions.

she's not had an easy time of it, edam. she did dabble in drugs in her teens and became a teen mum.

BUT, she left an abusive relationship after 11 years and became a hair stylist and an excellent mum to her two lovely sons .

it hasn't been easy, though, for her and the boys, but she's had the support of her parents and siblings always.

it was very clear she was neglected, though .

then the times they went through, as she had asthma from being exposed to so much cigarette smoke in the house, poor nutrition, etc.

I'm glad it's all worked out so well, expat. Despite the ups and downs on the way!

Dreadful of social services, doesn't the department get paid if they achieve a certain number of adoptions though? (or at least not chastised) isn't that why thay are 'going for' babies so much now.

Government targets.......

WHat happened in Rochdale?

Terrible case where the fashion of the time among SS (when people in their 30s now were kids) was to diagnose 'satanic abuse'. No evidence ever found for it actully happening. But big cases in Orkney, Cleveland and Rochdale where over-excited SWs took dozens of children away from their families claiming they had been abused in satanic rituals. The Rochdale children are now adults, and featured in a documentary last year. The life-long effects of those mad SWs have been chilling. No apology, no official recognition of wrong-doing, no recompense. Just ruined lives and SWs who are still practising despite being shown by their own recordings telling barefaced lies and causing serious distress to the poor children.

Thanks I knew about Orkney but hadn't appreciated it was more widespread

I get really annoyed with frequent threads slagging off social workers. Yes mistakes happen, and there are crap social workers, but there are also crap teachers, lawyers, cleaners, shop assistants, parents and every other job you can think of. I'm not commenting on this case as I know nothing about it (as I suspect the majority of posters here do, other than that what they've read in the press).

What I would like to say is that in my experience the majority of social workers are hard working, decent people who are faced with difficult decisions, involving the most vulnerable people in society, day in and day out. And, no, there aren't 'targets' for getting babies adopted. Not in Scotland anyway, and I'd be very surprised if it were the case in England/Wales/anywhere else.

Of course Finona (that the maj of social workers do a job most other people wouldn't touch with a bargepole very well)
however the Orkney case was a huge scandel wasn't it?
And this judgement does seem to be rather damning doesn't it?
I presume you're happy to admit the judges did have the details? and they seem to think it was a poor performance.

We were discussing this case not all social workers.

And there are some sort of targets there has to be this gov has targets for everything

Evidence in the Orkney case was never heard in court.

My point in posting into this thread was precisely that it had moved away from this case (which I'm still not going to talk about as I hadn't heard about it till I read about it here) and was developing into yet another 'aren't all social workers child snatching evil bastards': i.e.
'the alleged profession'.
'doesn't the department get paid if they achieve a certain number of adoptions though? (or at least not chastised) isn't that why thay are 'going for' babies so much now.'

NO, there aren't targets and I am not a fan of this gov (presumably you mean the Labour one).

Google 'adoption targets' and read the first thing that comes up.
That's what I'm referring too, not my fault if the press is lyingIt hardly moved into 'all social workers are ..........@ though expat told a personal story, edam told me what she was referring to when she mentioned Rochdale and I offered a possible reason for the haste based on what I had read.

I need to go to bed, but I'll google tomorrow if I get a chance and respond. Appreciate expat's personal story.

I do feel though that SW is damned if they do, damned if they don't and yes, the press do like to may possibly demonise and lie misinterpret issues.

Goodnight

It's not the press that is slamming social workers, it's some of the most senior judges in the land. Who presumably know a little about the case.

There are targets for adoption rates for SS depts in England, btw. That is a fact. And there have been a whole series of miscarriages of justice with common features. None of the underlying reasons for these failures have been tackled.

I am sure there are plenty of dedicated SWs who do want to do a good job. But there is something very wrong with the system. That needs to be brought into the light. Because SS holds enormous power, and with power should come responsibility and accountability. Look at the quote from the SW dept in this case and tell me whether they are demonstrating genuine contrition - they couldn't give a flying fuck.