Social services remove young children from grandparents and arrange adoption by gay couple

[EldonAve]

Social services remove young children from grandparents and arrange adoption by gay couple

"social workers stepped in after allegedly deciding that the couple, who are aged 59 and 46, were "too old" to look after the children."

Is 46 really too old?

Just to give you an idea - 730,000 people take ecstasy, 1,200,000 people use cocaine (and no, they are not all the same people), 2,000,000 regularly use marijuana in the UK. And all that is not even the real heard core stuff like heroin, meth and crack.

And you are seriously saying that the parents of these millions "fecked" them up?'

I'm happy to say that if they took the drugs whilst having sole care of the child then they palced them at risk, yes.

Opinion from time working with famillies just like this, trying to prevent SS intevention.

(should be ' ' around the first two paragraphs sorry)

solo..of course it's not too old, my grandmother had her last dc at 47...but for adoption purposes i think the cut off age is 40..??

Just to put some things in context- we know someone who has a 25 ur old daughter with a history of substance abuse and two little kids, along with a partner with a worse history of substance addiction. My friend is only 46 and is married to a 54 ur old bloke, and both are certainly too unwell to look after the daughter's children should they be taken into care. They are barely coping with their lives and states of health at the moment. Their health is unlikely to improve. Sadly, it does happen and people really do age that fast. You have to consider individual circumstances.

Stewie - The articled you linked says grandparents have been caring for the children since their birth. So I doubt if father was even in the picture at all.

So should the cut off age be changed then ? If women are having their first child at 39 as my neighbour is then surely we need to be looking at potnetial parents into their 50's especially as somebody suggested there was a shortage especially for older children.

So should the cut off age be changed then ? If women are having their first child at 39 as my neighbour is then surely we need to be looking at potnetial parents into their 50's especially as somebody suggested there was a shortage especially for older children.

i know SGM...ridiculous isn't it.

Stewie - It is also entirely possible that both children were conceived during sex with strangers, so there never was any father in their lives.

That seems likely- at least because it wasn't even a referral to SS matter if one aprent was a substance abuser as longa s the otehr was around and not using (neglect / risky behaviour different again obv).

It's worth remembering thata dotion isn't the only way to have a child with you- people get custody without formal adoption, there have been a few GP's on MN over the yearas after all (still are I think)

a dotion

ADOPTION

damn!

BTW- all those worried about wills etc further down

There was a thread, still will be somewhere, by Yorkiegirl about the importance of a will, written after her DH died on holiday. Well worth a read- IIRC it inspired at least one mumsnetter to marry after reading it.

thanks peachy..will check that out!

SGM

bizarrely and wonderfully, YG has appeared on MN for the first time in ages so I have directed her this way....

Message withdrawn

Yorkie, people are concerned about custody arrangements fr their children if they die without wills.

YG a few people were asking about wills and if you didnt have one would it affect surviving aprent etc (buried deep, sorry)

The thing is the concerns I have is only if we both go so on that front not really relevant, another lady was unmarried and unsure if she should have a will to which we all replied yes.