Scandal
of the stolen children
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/
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.
