Thank god for zizzo and HoleySocks and "boo" to hickorychicken -it was a few pages back but you said Hc that the adoptive parents of Fungi's son would now not let him see his son because of the programme. I am a retired social worker/manager and my career spanned some 30 years and this thing about Fungi being told he can see his son who he hasn't seen for 3 years struck me as very odd, as no adoptive parent would believe it was in the child's best interests to see a parent they hadn't seen for 3 years. Also direct contact after adoption is very rare. I wasn't surprised then when it turned out the contact couldn't go ahead. I think Fungi must have got things mixed up.
I have seen dozens of Fungi's and MarkandBeckys during the course of my social work career and it is all very sad because these people have to exist on the margins of society. They simply are not equipped to deal with life, especially now that this damn govt are making the poor pay for the greed of the bankers.
Someone wondered where the grandparents were. I don't care what the DM says about the previous generations of workers, and I am sure it is true that their grandparents worked, but the Fungi's and BandMs are like they are because of the way they were parented and so it isn't surprising that there is no nice rosy cheeked granny ready to take the kids to the park. The young families I encountered rarely had support from their parents because if they couldn't be bothered with their kids when they were little, they weren't going to be bothered about them as adults. It's called the cycle of deprivation and no one knows how to break into it. Various politicians have tried but in the main we parent our children in the way we were parented. Before anyone comes on saying "well I had a bad childhood but I don't bring my kids up like that" I am not saying that all parents who were ill treated as children will go on to ill treat their children.
I didn't believe Fungi's account of the armed robbery - his lack of eye contact and body language suggested to me that he was lying, a bit of bravado if you like. He too has LDs and is not equipped to cope with life in any way, shape or form. I wonder how he was brought up - I could have a good guess. The drugs thing - the trouble is heroin addicts become addicted to methadone and so there is very little point of methadone programmes. I believe heroin should be legalised and you get a prescription from the GP (hundreds of people already do this and live normal lives) and it would cut crime by a huge percentage.
Yes they will have filmed for months on end and of course they show the bits for "good tele" like white Dee's seeming incessant fag smoking and Becky - It is so obvious that Mark has a moderate LD but I think becky would only have a very mild LD. I note posters are saying that Callum has ADHD. I'm not sure about this. Becky seems afraid of Callum (watch her flinch when he looks like he's going to hit her) and Mark has no idea of how to cope. Callum is being brought up by parents with LDs who have little or no idea of "good enough" parenting and so he lives in chaos with parents who have no control over him and worse still no real chance of change. And guess how Callum and Casey will turn out as adults............yep - you've got it in one and so the cycle of deprivation will keep churning
Holey I agree with everything you say, but I would have to take issue about your friend who served a custodial sentence for armed robbery going on to adopt 3 children. I may not have that right, but no one would be allowed to adopt with that kind of offence in their background. Some offences would not necessarily bar anyone from fostering or adoption, but where violent offences are concerned it simply would not be allowed.
I think the programme makers liked to focus on white Dee as she's a "bit of a character" and makes good tele. I think she will become quite "famous" a bit like Jade Goody from the Big Brother House.
Oh and Mark's pleasure at the food parcel was soooo touching.
Think I've said enough.