Sussex couple lose battle to stop daughter's adoption (From The Argus)
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Sussex couple lose battle to stop daughter's adoption
3:00pm Friday 10th July 2009 in News By Alison Cridland
A couple whose daughter was taken into care more than two years ago after she witnessed their belligerent confrontations with police and teachers have failed in a final court bid to prevent her being adopted.
Three appeal judges in London held that any improvement in the parents' insight into their own attitudes was "too little and too late" to give them the chance of trying to overturn an adoption placement order.
The 32-year-old father and his wife, 43, who live in Hailsham were refused permission to appeal against orders granted to East Sussex County Council by a judge at Brighton County Court.
The Court of Appeal was told that the bitterly contested case had involved no fewer than 73 hearings.
Alison Ball QC, for the mother, said that chaotic and unsanitary conditions found at the couple's home by police during a heated and confrontational incident in April 2007, during which the girl saw her father handcuffed, were not typical.
They were good parents, she said, and their daughter, now aged seven, had been happy at home and there was no question of her having been harmed in any way.
Yet, at the age of five, she was taken away from them within hours of the incident, had remained in foster care ever since and was now up for adoption.
Miss Ball claimed the parents, whose immediate reaction was that their precious child had been kidnapped, were not given a proper chance to disprove a finding that they put their own interests before the welfare of their child.
The father admitted he had "lost it" on occasions - including the confrontation with the police and an incident at their daughter's school - and the mother was now willing to undergo a psychological assessment of her abilities as a parent.
Miss Ball urged Lord Justice Thorpe, Lord Justice Longmore and Mr Justice Bodey to cancel the adoption placement and make a further interim care order pending an assessment of the parents.
But Mr Justice Bodey, giving the court's judgment, said that, "sadly for the parents", there were no grounds for challenging the county court judge's finding that the girl was at risk of psychological harm
Comments(18)
John Steed
says...
6:25pm Fri 10 Jul 09
puddingandpi
says...
7:27pm Fri 10 Jul 09
Anyway, "they **** you up, your parents do. They don't mean to but they do."
puddingandpi
says...
7:28pm Fri 10 Jul 09
Anyway, "they fvck you up, your parents do. They don't mean to but they do."
rs
says...
8:52pm Fri 10 Jul 09
when you have cases such as baby p when they stand back and give the parents chance after chance even with serious physical abuse going on. this doesn't make sense.
the result two heartbroken parents and a child who's old enough to ensure that she will be emotionally scarred forever.
TheInsider
says...
9:36pm Fri 10 Jul 09
I have close friends who have fostered dozens of children for many years and these days children are not taken into care at the drop of a hat.
There has been a move in recent years to keep children with chaotic, drunk, druggie, dysfunctional families as it was considered to be better for a child to be with a parent no matter how capable they were. However, more recently the damage this does is now turning the tide again back to the long-term needs of children.
It's a sad fact of life that even in the 21st century some parents are not able to provide a nurturing home.
Bex24
says...
9:37pm Fri 10 Jul 09
We don't know the circumstances
bibble
says...
10:27pm Fri 10 Jul 09
Bex24 wrote:You are assuming that the social workers were right.
The authorities wouldn't have prevented the child from being reunited with the family if they felt there was no risk. They do what is best for the children at the end of the day, and without knowing the full story how can any of you comment?! We don't know the circumstances
Have a read here:
http://tinyurl.com/n
8dwa8
dodgy
says...
10:53pm Fri 10 Jul 09
Check out the Badman report on home educators. Pretty soon they will have the right to enter your home uninvited and without a search warrant and be able to question your children without your presence.
As far as the Father "losing it!" any loving parent would do just that.
Chicken and Beans
says...
12:46am Sat 11 Jul 09
bibble wrote:Perhaps it's a case of preemptive action, you complete moron. Save the child before she ends up as retarded as her parents.
This is a case of kidnapping by the state. The judges and police are the kidnappers.
Sweepster
says...
7:31am Sat 11 Jul 09
No child should be left to live in an volatile environment.
Acheron
says...
7:32am Sat 11 Jul 09
It's very easy to bash social workers, they are an easy target when they do act and when they don't, putting them in a no win situation. While I'm not saying this case is anywhere near the same, we only have to look at the Baby P case to see what happens when they don't act.
Taking a child away from the family home won't have been done on a whim. Conditions were described as unsanitory. That doesn't happen just because of an arguement, thats something that happens over time.
The judges will have had a large dossier of information to make their decision, if they thought the social services had over-reacted it would be clear. It's ashame the Argus didn't report more on the other side of the story, just putting the parents view is bias and bound to cause an emotional reaction.
Osama bin there
says...
9:26am Sat 11 Jul 09
Other than that, due to the lack of evidence in the article, I can't comment.
puddingandpi
says...
12:32pm Sat 11 Jul 09
rs wrote:My cousin was the foster carer for baby P & her grandfather is a convicted paedophile, so they didn't check her out very well, did they?
what a shocking story, unless i'm missing something here, this is completly over the top behaviour from social services.
when you have cases such as baby p when they stand back and give the parents chance after chance even with serious physical abuse going on. this doesn't make sense.
the result two heartbroken parents and a child who's old enough to ensure that she will be emotionally scarred forever.
Sweepster
says...
12:45pm Sat 11 Jul 09
puddingandpi wrote:If everyone that was related to a sex offender was barred from working with children there would not be many people available to work.
rs wrote:My cousin was the foster carer for baby P & her grandfather is a convicted paedophile, so they didn't check her out very well, did they?
what a shocking story, unless i'm missing something here, this is completly over the top behaviour from social services.
when you have cases such as baby p when they stand back and give the parents chance after chance even with serious physical abuse going on. this doesn't make sense.
the result two heartbroken parents and a child who's old enough to ensure that she will be emotionally scarred forever.
yorkie44
says...
5:00pm Sat 11 Jul 09
After the Baby P case there could be some over-reaction but what is best a dead child or a child in care?
The real problem is how has this country got to this state when children are increasingly at risk from their own parents?
rs
says...
6:17pm Sat 11 Jul 09
yorkie44 wrote:there's no mention of the child being at any physical risk:
The people who think this is wrong should rememeber that about 1 child a week is killed by their parents. In most cases the parents are known to have problems themselves - obviously. After the Baby P case there could be some over-reaction but what is best a dead child or a child in care? The real problem is how has this country got to this state when children are increasingly at risk from their own parents?
"They were good parents, she said, and their daughter, now aged seven, had been happy at home and there was no question of her having been harmed in any way.
Yet, at the age of five, she was taken away from them within hours of the incident, had remained in foster care ever since and was now up for adoption.
Tye
says...
5:22pm Sun 12 Jul 09
i wonder how these people can sleep at night?
It does remind me a little of "One flew over the cuckoos nest?"
a brain op on a patient who did not conform with authority so he was "taught a lesson"
bibble says...
5:09pm Fri 10 Jul 09