Northern Exposure and the Highland Council open investigation

On Friday`s UK Column News [30 September 2016] it was reported that Brian Gerrish and Mike Robinson had had an extremely successful meet-up in Dunblane, Scotland, with David Scott from Northern Exposure and many people who had come together to express their concerns about what they saw happening politically both in Scotland and the rest of the UK.  David Scott was thanked for putting the event together and asked what sort of feedback he had received following the meeting.

In answer, Scott said that he thought it was the start of something bigger. They had already planned their next meet-up. " I`d also like to thank everybody who dug deep for the Dochertys. We had a collection that raised nearly £400 on the night and there`s been other monies coming in via the UK Column from the south. So that will be enormously helpful for them. And we`ll get that to them as soon as we can."

"Last week you highlighted the launch of the Highland Investigation because you wanted to investigate Highland Council and how it is treating Highlanders," Mike Robinson prompted Scott. "And you sent this to us this morning which is some of the feedback that you`ve had on that already, and this looks pretty harrowing. "

"It certainly is... " It reads:

"I was a foster carer for the Highland Council Inverness for two years. I witnessed a female social worker sexually abuse a 10 year old boy in the local Liddles` car park who was in my care. When I reported it, it was five years of hell for me as well as the child. I was accused of being a liar and worse by social services."

"Highland Council, SSSC, child protection, and as for the Scottish parliament and Highland police force, it was one big cover-up. Coppers on the shop floor were not happy but the investigation was stopped from very high up with no explanation. I had my name removed from the authorised carers list and blacklisted from being a foster carer as SS Inverness threatened me if I didn`t drop the allegation."

"And their excuse for getting rid of me; they claim I didn`t pass on information and I wasn`t seen as a team player. Highland social services need looking into: why are they protecting staff that have a history of abusing children and why are they being protected by police and Scottish ministers?"

Mike Robinson pointed out that if people freeze the screen at this point in the news, that one of the things they`re going to read is that somebody is saying that they know that the child concerned, who is now an adult, now has issues including self harm.

"So clearly.. .long term damage being done there," says Robinson.

"Absolutely. And another ... thing, the child concerned, whilst a child said: `Don`t report this to the police. If you report this to the police, I`ll be taken away from you. You`ll never see me again and it will be worse for both of us.`  So the child, despite being a child in the system, knew the score. And the score is: don`t complain; don`t look for justice or it will go badly for you."
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Northern Exposure are planning their next meet-up on the last Wednesday in October in Inverness. One of the themes they see recurring is that parents feel they are being targets; parents feel they are being viewed as the enemy by Highland Council.

The email address for communicating with the Highland Council investigation was put on the screen.

"Anybody working for Highland Council who wants to pass on information; anybody who has been on the receiving end of Highland Council, that`s the contact email address."

 Email nothern_exposure@hushmail.com ...