UK- Stolen children by government ? - PRESENT HISTORY

HISTORIC FILES

Once a while we 'reprint' older articles to keep attention of practices which are still not cleared yet. Many times government bodies succeed by the knowledge that journalist forget topics while they are not newsworthy any more. But this does not mean, that the practices of the abuse of childprotection measures or childtrafficking for adoption or exploitation of vulnerable families does not exist anymore. Besides, many times these things does not happen far away, but more often and closer as we think.

United Adoptees International
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Scandal of the stolen children

Last updated at 11:51 14 May 2005

It is a world of terrifying shadows, which thank God most of us will never know: a world of all-powerful officials, secret courts, stolen children and ruined lives; a world where love has no place and the vulnerable have no voice.

Today in the Daily Mail we reveal the profoundly disturbing details of how decent people can be caught up in a nightmare they don't understand, how happy, cared-for children can be torn from their mothers and given to strangers and how a remorseless administrative machine insists it's all for the best.

No, this isn't a story from the dark days of Soviet dictatorship. This is happening in civilised, liberal Britain, where parents have no rights at all if they don't measure up to the standards of intelligence deemed appropriate by social workers.

And it doesn't matter if your children are loved, well-nourished and properly clothed. It doesn't matter if they are content and cared for in a stable, hardworking environment.

They are still liable to be snatched from you and put into the cold 'care' of the local council if you happen to have learning difficulties or a lower than average IQ, whatever your other qualities.

Somehow, without any publicity or popular consent, the social work establishment has set itself up as the supreme arbiter of good parenthood. And the consequences are devastating.

Take the positively Kafkaesque case we reported last Saturday, involving a couple who are utterly distraught at the way their very young daughter and her baby brother were confiscated and sent for adoption. The reason? Social workers in Essex claim the couple are too "slow" to be parents.

But this was a happy, secure family. The children were loved and kept clean, well-dressed and well-fed. Moreover, their father has held down a job in the same company for 22 years.

None of that seemed to matter to the thought police of Essex. They worried that the mother had a low IQ. And having sent an army of social workers into the family home, they solemnly concluded that she took too long to brush her teeth and had difficulty preparing meals (though the children's father did much of the cooking).

To cap it all, this outrage was originally shrouded in shameful secrecy.

The Family Court, which heard the case, doesn't sit in public. And a bullying Essex County Council threatened an injunction against a brave local councillor who dared to raise questions.

Fortunately, Barry Aspinell refused to be cowed into silence, which is why this appalling case is now in the public domain. But as our report today reveals, the scandal isn't confined to Essex.

All over the country, families are being cruelly torn apart not for the welfare of children, but because social workers are following a politically correct, bureaucratically convenient agenda.

After all, isn't it cheaper and simpler to put children up for adoption than to spend money supporting parents with learning difficulties? And anyway, doesn't the social work establishment tend to think the state always knows best?

The aching sadness in all this is that while loving families are being crushed, cases of genuine child abuse too often go unnoticed or ignored until it is too late. Can anyone forget the deaths of Maria Colwell, Jasmine Beckford, little Victoria Climbie and so many others betrayed by social workers?

The best way to protect children is through the love and security of two parents and a stable home. And that doesn't take brains. It takes care and commitment and responsibility. That is the lesson of human experience.

How tragic that officialdom seems incapable of grasping it.

Comments: Scandal of the stolen children by Fiona Barton May 14th 05