Single gay man is first to adopt in Scotland

"On the day Thomas Anderson found out he was going to be a father, he nearly fainted."

"He’d known from a young age that he wanted children in his future, but as a gay man he thought it was `impossible` for him. And when he entered his 30s as a single gay man, it felt all the more so."

“It was heartbreaking,” he told Pink News during LGBT+ Adoption and Fostering Week. `People dream about high flying careers, seeing the world – mine was to become a dad. To have the belief that that would remain a dream was horrible`..."

"LGBT+ people in the UK have had the right to adopt children since the Adoption and Children Act came into force in 2005, but like many people Thomas assumed that it only applied to couples."

"Even after he realised that the law allowed him the opportunity to adopt as a single gay man, he still feared this being snatched away from him."

"Thomas applied to adopt through St Andrew’s Children’s Society, an independent, voluntary adoption and fostering agency in Edinburgh that works in partnership with local LGBT+ organisations."

https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2020/03/08/first-single-gay-man-adopt-child-scotland-st-andrews-children-society/

It makes you wonder whose child has been taken by this independent, voluntary adoption and fostering agency.

Most families will not have given up their babies voluntarily, as the agency makes clear on its website:

"The family will have come to the attention of social work services following ante-natal visits..."  

"Birth parents will have the chance to have positive parenting experiences with their children..."

https://sacsadopt.scot/concurrent-care/

Often those positive parenting experiences will be judged by social workers as inadequate. That`s all it really takes to lose a baby.

Inquest into death of teenager

"An inquest has opened into the death of a teenage boy at a children`s home on Hayling Island."

"Damian Szarch, 17, died on Wednesday, March 6 while at Poppy Lodge, in Church Road."

"Portsmouth Coroners` Court is preparing the inquest into the teenager`s death..."

"Speaking last week, a spokeswoman for Poppy Lodge said: `An active investigation is currently being conducted by Hampshire police and we are unable to comment at this time`..."

"Poppy Lodge is run by Hillcrest Children`s Services Ltd and provides care and accommodation for up to seven young men with complex difficulties."

"It is rated outstanding by Ofsted, who last inspected in September last year."

https://www.portsmouth.co.uk/news/inquest-opens-into-the-death-of-hayling-island-boy-17-who-died-at-a-children-s-home-1-8846283

Martin Barrow`s twitter feed can be found below:

https://twitter.com/MartinBarrow/status/1106229930118008833

Foster care agency to be sold for more than £100 million

"One of Britain’s largest foster care agencies could be about to change hands for more than £100 million."

"Partnerships in Children’s Services is expected to be sold after its private equity owner, Sovereign Capital, hired advisers from Clearwater to find a buyer."

"Partnerships in Children’s Services brands include Clifford House, Orange Grove and Fosterplus Partnerships in Children’s Services."

"Sovereign Capital invested in 2012 in Fosterplus which was set up in 1996 by two former social workers, Deborah Ferguson and Paul Snell, who are still directors."

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/news/article-6247843/Foster-care-agency-Childrens-Services-expected-change-hands-100-million.html?ito=amp_twitter_share-related

Director of Children`s Aid Society charged

"OPP has charged William Sweet, a resident of Picton, Ont., after allegations of wrongdoing during his work as the executive director of the Prince Edward County Children’s Aid Society between 2002 and 2010."

"Investigating cases of children placed with foster parents who themselves were convicted of child abuse, this led the OPP to look into Sweet’s involvement as executive director of the child care organization..."

"Sgt. Carolle Dionne, provincial media relations coordinator, says that although Sweet never fostered any children of his own, he is being charged because as she said, `he ought to have known better` than to place children with the foster parents who have since been convicted in child abuse cases."

"For a period of eight years, nine foster children were placed with six foster parents who have since been convicted of sexual abuse against those children."

https://globalnews.ca/news/4182170/childrens-aid-executive-charged/

Children want their voices to be heard

Emma Hunter, aged 20, from Dundee, is a Digital Modern Apprentice working with the Year of Young People 2018 team...

"I’ve always taken an interest in current affairs, especially those surrounding my own generation. I attended the Scottish Young People’s Conference in 2016 and was lucky enough to ask the Scottish Education Secretary questions about mental health care for young people. This is an issue close to my own heart and I found the opportunity eye-opening, as it was a room of like-minded people who all wanted their voices heard...."  

"I come from a background of adoption and also spent time in foster care. Unfortunately, when I was growing up I didn’t have access to a forum where I could give my thoughts and feelings about this subject. As well as this, I’ve spent time working with children in a foster family and they also felt like their voices were not being heard. A platform where people can share stories or simply read about other people is something  that Year of Young People can offer."

https://blogs.gov.scot/engage-for-education/2017/12/31/yearofyoungpeopleemmahunter/

Council contracts out more joined up care

"The council and Virgin Care have said that the contract aims to deliver a more joined up health and care system. Virgin Care’s business case document – which contains no explicit discussion of social work functions – mentions services having a single call centre, as well as creating integrated health and social care ‘hubs’ based around GP surgeries, but it is unclear as yet how these would work."

They will work by sharing adults` private data with the hubs.

Then the elderly, who are considered vulnerable enough to be taken advantage of, will be shuffled off to care homes and their houses sold in order to pay for their forced incarceration. This is how it will work.

Next stop will be the children.

"The LaingBuisson report is well worth a read. Its international comparisons reveal that nowhere else apart from England does the state look to contract out crucial assessments and decision-making about the safety and protection of children. The report also shows how much of children’s social services, such as children’s homes (66%), foster care (47%) and social workers (14%), are already provided through independent, largely profit-making, companies."

https://www.theguardian.com/social-care-network/2016/dec/12/laingbuisson-report-privatising-childrens-social-services

Missing children are inappropriately categorised

"A charity has called for police forces to improve their handling of missing children cases after it emerged some are inappropriately categorising those who are missing from care as `absent`. "

"Railway Children is concerned about the way some police forces deal with instances of children going missing from care."

"Railway Children is concerned by the findings of a National Crime Agency report around the potential misuse of this lesser categorisation, which indicates the missing person is not at risk."

"The report, which looks at 2015/16 missing persons data, found that while some forces label all cases involving children with the higher priority category of `missing` this is not the case nationwide."

"Andy McCullogh, Railway Children's policy and public affairs director, said: `It is worrying that the NCA report has identified some police forces to be still inappropriately classing all missing children from care only as absent, meaning the child is at ‘no apparent risk', when the reality is they could be at serious risk of harm."

"A quick and accurate assessment of risk is essential to ensuring vulnerable children get the help they need at the right time..."

"While Surrey had stopped using this lesser category for children, this policy was reversed during 2015/16."

"Last year HM Inspectorate of Constabulary found that most police forces did not have a good understanding of the problem of missing children in their area. This also found that cases where children were categorised as `absent` received far less attention."

"Ofsted has previously raised concerns about a rise in the number of children going missing from foster care."

http://www.cypnow.co.uk/cyp/news/2003310/police-failing-to-deal-appropriately-with-children-missing-from-care

Traffic 2

Richie Allen interviews Emma Ibbitson about Traffic 2 and asks why she and the team decided to do a follow up to Traffic.

"Traffic was banned," she explains and they were not going to accept that. The film attempts to blow the lid off the fostering and adoption industry. It is an industry that is still growing.  She discovered that in one city there were as many as fifty hearings in one day.

Listen here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdjCe8B41JQ

Fostering agencies make significant profits

Kids in Care

‘A charity that relies in the main part on taxes’, writes the blogger Guido Fawkes, ‘is no more a charity than a prostitute is your girlfriend.’

"Recent research from Corporate Watch shows that in 2014-15, eight commercial fostering agencies made around £41m profit between them from providing foster placements to local authorities."

"This is pure profit. It’s after allowances for foster carers, staffing costs and support services. Who did this money go to? Well, according to Corporate Watch, one company, Graphite Capital, made £14.4m on shareholder loans from the National Fostering Agency, which it owned, and then sold it on. The Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan accrued £13m from its ownership of Acorn Care and Education. And Sovereign Capital took £1.9m in 2014 alone from company Partnerships in Children’s Services, a group that comprises several foster care agencies..."

"Meanwhile, in 2014-15, local authorities were making significant cuts and services for vulnerable children were being squeezed. The fact that £41m of public taxpayers’ money, allocated to support children in state care, actually ended up in the pockets of a Canadian pension fund and some seriously rich capital firms is obscene."

https://www.theguardian.com/social-care-network/2016/jan/11/why-let-fostering-agencies-profit-caring-children

State traffficking: children regionalised

Brian Gerrish on today`s UK Column News: "Now I`d just like to bring in this... It`s part of a letter from Melanie Shaw and I`ve got to say what is happening to this lady is just utterly outrageous. I`ll read a little piece of this. She says: `It`s bad; there`s no evidence at court. I`ll go guilty to anything. I`m being charged in jail weekly for offences now and they are piling up as outside court charges. It`s insane. I don`t even leave my cell. I`m abused daily. It`s become normal. I`ve gone guilty and now should be sentenced on the eleventh.  I believe I`m being set up and will remain in jail for a decade  Britain`s equivalent to Nelson Mandela. It`s hard to be positive. I`ve no cash to spend on coffee or shampoo but sod it I`ll cope. I stand by my decision to whistleblow. Christmas in jail, just another day`."

"And then she says she hopes to meet the person who sent her the letter and of course many of Melanie`s letters are simply not reaching her and we will say once again why is this lady in prison? We`re not fully sure. Is she on remand?  Or has she actually been sentenced? We don`t know. She doesn`t know. And what we`re very sure of is the fact she`s in prison in order to silence her because of what she knows about the abuse and indeed death of children at Beechwood children`s home, Nottingham, and also the role of politicians."

"So we`ve got a little bit more to say on child abuse but if anybody wants to write to Melanie Shaw, details of the prison address are on UK Column website. Some letters are getting through. We suggest you do not send her money because there are indications this is disappearing into the hands of prison staff.  Stamps may get through; your letter may get through but it would seem it`s only going to be letters and Christmas cards that are going to keep Melanie in a good frame of mind over Christmas."

Moving on through the news: "A police officer had been sacked for a sexual assault. The police say well this didn`t occur on duty so we`re going to take disciplinary action. So to me it says criminal offence, but don`t worry police are going to protect their own. So this is what was said: `The allegations were of serious sexual assault of an adult female and were said to amount to abuse of authority, respect and courtesy; unlawful use of force; and discreditable conduct under the Police (Conduct) Regulations 2012."

"And what`s happening? Well they`re determined that the identity of the officer should not be made public - in the interests of the complainant and the harm that would be caused by publicity to other family members - and the case concluded just a day before a national report revealed that more than 300 officers had been accused of abusing their positions of authority for sexual gain. That`s across the country. But no worries because there`s no serious problem with sexual crimes or abuse of children."

 

"The Norwegians though are taking a different view on things and this is a report from the Local, a Norwegian newspaper: Police break up massive Norwegian paedophile ring and the significant thing here is that a former Norwegian Labour Party politician is one of the people who`s actually been arrested as a part of these Operation Darkroom investigations."

"Well, happily David Cameron said there are no child abusers in British politics. It`s those nasty Norwegian people that get involved with this.  Melanie Shaw in prison, I think, because she and many others hold information which is very dangerous to the British government - because of course it says that Members of Parliament have been involved in the trafficking and abuse of children."

 

"Well should we be concerned as parents? I think we should. And thank you to another viewer for sending us this. A Department of Education document just released: Practice and Improvement Fund: Round 2. Improving outcomes in a regionalised adoption system."

"So here we are Mike. This is the European model now being forced through to do with children. But basically we`ve got such a huge problem with these children; we don`t know where they all are; we`re still missing 300 Syrian children as a minimum but the state is now going to introduce the regionalisation of the adoption system. And they boast: `It`s well underway. The first wave of regional adoption agencies will go `live` by mid-2017 and we`re in discussion with 19 projects covering 132 local authorities and 23 voluntary adoption agencies.` So they are inviting people to bid for projects and of course what we know is that people can make big money out of fostering and adoption of children."

Mike Robinson interjects: "So you have labelled this state trafficking; children regionalised. And this isn`t about taking care of children; they`re turning this into an industry."

"This is a well established industry and if any of our viewers or listeners like to go and have a look at the bigger charities - Action for Children is one in my mind - you`ll see vast amounts of money: hundreds of millions of pounds in circulation around the supposed care of very vulnerable children."

"Now this is a little bit of the text inside that document and it says: `We are interested in proposals which will bring together partners to provide a coordinated assessment and support offer and/or explore the regional delivery of the Adoption Support Fund (ASF).` (More money here; but the government doesn`t have any money.) `We are particularly interested in projects under these themes that will demonstrate a continued commitment to engaging users in the development and testing of support services. What type of projects are we interested in? Through PIF round 2 we would like to support the development of adoption support `Centres of Excellence` which bring together relevant partners including social care, health and/or education partners.`"

"So you see once again all the authorities being joined together in a hive type system where the moment of course a family is being engaged by one authority they can`t escape this Stasi-like net. This is very very dangerous stuff and whilst they`re boasting about Centres of Excellence of course we have across the country many many child abuse whistleblowers and we have no movement on the Inquiry into Child Abuse by the British government. Why? Because the government is desperate to protect its own members who have been involved in paedophilia and child abuse."

http://www.ukcolumn.org/

Private fostering agencies offer cash incentives for more business

"Large private foster agencies are offering cash incentives to recruit foster carers working for English local authorities - and then charging more for the service, councils say. Some agencies pay `golden hellos` of around £3,000, but then charge councils more to care for the same child."

"The Association of Directors of Children's Services says the practice is immoral and should be banned..."

"A recent independent review of residential care by government adviser Sir Martin Narey said that in 2014-15, eight commercial fostering agencies made around £41m in profit... Not all agencies make money, some are charities or not for profit organisations."

"The president of ADCS, Dave Hill, said that companies should not be profiteering from children in care and objected very strongly to `golden hellos`.  Mr Hill said that it cost authorities thousands of pounds to assess and train foster carers - a cost that was wasted if the carer then transferred to an agency..."

Edward Timpson

 

"Children and Families Minister Edward Timpson said: "We are launching a national stocktake of fostering to better understand current provision - including looking at the role fostering agencies play."

"The revelation comes amid a shortage of foster carers."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-36975478

[The revelation comes amid a shortage of foster carers, indeed. And record numbers of children are being placed in care. Now why would that be?  Maybe Corporate Watch is on to something.]

From Corporate Watch:

"In response to requests from foster carers concerned by the privatisation of their service, Corporate Watch has combed through company records and accounts to investigate who is behind the UK’s biggest foster care businesses, how much money they are making and where that money is going."

"We have found millions of pounds that could be reinvested in the care of children are instead leaving the system as bumper payouts to shareholders. Directors enjoy very generous pay packets, while some companies are siphoning profits out through tax havens in the Channel Islands and the Caribbean."

"Foster care has become a lucrative business. Whether it should be a business at all is another question."

Read more https://corporatewatch.org/news/2015/dec/15/foster-care-business　

English government should copy Scottish fostering legislation

by Andy Elvin

"This month the new President of the Association of Directors of Children’s Services, Dave Hill, spoke out against Independent Fostering Agencies (IFAs) offering £3,000 `Golden Hellos` to foster carers to switch agencies."

"He said: `We think it is very sharp practice because we’re recruiting, training, assessing and approving those foster carers. We just think that is morally absolutely wrong`."

"He encouraged ministers to consider Scotland, where laws state fostering agencies which are profit making cannot approve, review or terminate the approval of foster carers."

"I have every sympathy with Dave Hill and would urge the English government to look at copying the Scottish legislation, and have urged Department for Education to do just this."

"Ed Timpson said recently, in the midst of the concerned responses to the ‘exemption’ clause contained in the Children and Social Work Bill, that the government "will not privatise Child Protection". And it won’t, as the private sector wants no part of a service where they operate to a fixed cost but can’t control how much demand will be placed on that service."

"However the care system was part privatised some years ago. It is legal and above board, and it is big, big business. The Sunday Times reported last weekend how two of Britain’s biggest foster care companies, Acorn and the National Fostering Agency, were to merge in an ambitious £400m plan."

http://www.communitycare.co.uk/2016/07/18/government-opposes-profits-child-protection-care/　

Let Glasow`s children flourish through adoption and fostering

I do not think it is appropriate to have these messages displayed outside primary schools.

`FOSTER AND ADOPT - grow your family tree.`

It is bad enough that young children are taught to see the Named Person  as the head gardener but these banners promoting adoption and fostering are taking the plant analogy to a whole new low.

See how children are represented as grafts on the plant. [Cutting, forcing, healing: that`s all part of the process.]

 

 

There`s a subliminal message for parents too.

Big data and predictive analytics

 

"For some parents, the words `Child Protective Services` send chills down the spine. In an effort to stamp out fraud and abuse, welfare outfits across the country have honed in on poor communities of color for decades now, critics claim, with almost any government interaction potentially leading to kids being removed from their homes."

"Now big data is set [to] make the dynamic even more intense—and racially charged."

"In 1999, the foster care population in the United States reached a peak at 567,000. But due to both diminishing budgets and programs aimed at keeping children in their homes, that number dropped to 415,000 by 2014. The representation of black children in the foster system remains disproportionately high, however: Black children account for 24 percent of kids in foster care, while comprising just 14 percent of the general population of children in the US. And a burgeoning method for determining exactly which families get visits from child welfare caseworkers has advocates for low-income families worried the disparity will only get worse."

"The new approach is called `predictive analytics,` and it's taking the child welfare system by storm. Across the country, from suburban counties in Florida to major cities like Los Angeles, child welfare agencies are launching initiatives that take data points like race, parental welfare status, and criminal history, and a variety of other publicly available characteristics, and feed them into an algorithm that assigns each child a `risk` score. That score is then considered when determining whether a caseworker should visit a family."

http://www.vice.com/read/how-child-protection-agencies-are-trying-to-predict-which-parents-will-abuse-kids

Foster carer found guilty of murder

"A woman who battered a toddler to death months after she was made the child's legal guardian has been found guilty of murder."

"Eighteen-month-old Keegan Downer, born Shi-Anne, collapsed at the family home in Birmingham on 5 September 2015."

"A post-mortem revealed she died from a combination of septicaemia, infection, blunt chest trauma, and old head injuries..."

 

 

"In January 2015 she went to live with Kandyce Downer who became the child's legal guardian."

"At first the child was `healthy and happy` while living with Ms Downer, who was studying a full-time business course."

"In the three months before her death, Keegan was not seen by any independent care professional, including medical staff or social services."

http://news.sky.com/story/1689450/barbaric-foster-mum-guilty-of-toddler-murder

Children will be adopted if relatives cannot prove they are suitable carers

"THE government is to change the law to speed up the adoption of children in care and make it easier for foster parents to adopt those who are living with them."

"In a dramatic legal change to be introduced in the next session of parliament by Nicky Morgan, the education secretary, relatives of children being put up for adoption will have to prove that they can provide permanent stability and `restorative care` to children who may have suffered sexual abuse and trauma from a violent or mentally ill parent."

"The four-year strategy is designed to ensure that courts `prioritise adoption` and stop children languishing in care or being passed to multiple temporary foster placements."

"Foster parents, carers and potential adopters will have the same right as parents and relatives of the child to put their case in court.
However, critics last night warned that the changes could lead to more family members being denied the right to look after their own relatives."

"John Hemming, chairman of the Justice for Families campaign group and a former MP, said the changes would create a `one-way conveyer belt` towards adoption, rather than a `complex series of judgments` that could include placing children with family members or giving parents the chance to rehabilitate."

"A grandfather of five, writing an online article for today’s Sunday Times, has called for a public inquiry into the practice of forced adoption, which he says has destroyed the life of his daughter. The family has lodged a case with the European Court of Human Rights."
 
"The grandfather, who cannot be named for legal reasons, watched as the three youngest of his daughter’s five children were taken into care. They have now been put up for adoption. He and his wife are bringing up her oldest two children — but their mother has been forbidden from seeing them except under supervision."
 
"The government’s new adoption strategy will recommend that babies under the age of two be placed with foster parents who may want to adopt them permanently."
 
"Councils and adoption agencies are to be publicly shamed if they do not act quickly to find adoptive families for children in care. Ministers want them to prioritise adoption for children who have suffered traumatic abuse."
 
"There will also be more state support for families who adopt disabled children as well as those with behavioural problems, and this will be extended until the children have reached the age of 21."

 "The strategy follows concern about a fall nationally in the number of children in care being adopted."

"The new strategy recommends greater use of innovative ways of finding new parents for children in care — such as adoption parties, and `adoption activity days`, when potential families can have a day out with children looking for homes. It will be backed by £14m of government money."

"Sources close to ministers said there was concern about a lack of `common sense` by some social workers."
 
"`These are children spending all day in dirty nappies who might be placed with a cousin they have never met when there are many loving couples out there desperate to adopt,` said a Whitehall source."

http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/news/article1682334.ece

Although the situation in Scotland is different, with its Children`s Hearing system, it is moving in the same direction and is pushing for earlier and more adoptions.

One thing that is the same both north and south of the border is that grandparents have no rights in relation to their grandchildren.

Speaking to the campaigning group Grandparents Apart, I was informed that grandparents who wish to put themselves forward as carers of their grandchildren - say, if the parents have a drug issue - are invariably asked to attend a family centre. There they are observed with their grandchildren by `specialist` social workers who write a report.

When the grandparents eventually see the report they are often shocked to find that small insignificant details of the contact at the family centre have been blown out of all proportion. The grandparents are found to be unsuitable as carers. It seems that the authorities prefer forced adoption of the children to strangers rather than keeping children within their families.

Of course, some of the organisations that are upset about falling adoption rates are the adoption agencies which run like private companies. 

No council tax for foster carers

"Liverpool foster carers are to have their council tax waived under a new scheme planned by mayor Joe Anderson to encourage more recruits."

"The move – which would save families more than £1,000 a year – is intended to boost the numbers of carers and help the council drive down the cost of looking after children with no homes."

"The innovative move, which is set to come into effect from the new council tax year in April, is part of a range of incentives to try to recruit another 200-300 foster carers in the city."

"The council will also offer `lifestyle passes` giving foster carers free access to city gyms and other facilities, the Mayor said, in addition to an allowance to cover the costs of fostering."

"The move was welcomed by John Simmons from the adoption and fostering specialist children’s charity, Coram..." [Well, he would welcome the move. Coram is part of the industry.]

"Mayor Anderson said potential foster carers will undergo full and proper checks and will receive training from the council before they can look after children..."

"In 2014, the council introduced the ‘Payment for Skills’ scheme giving the city’s team of 300 foster carers a professional fee of up to £444 per week. That money was in addition to weekly age-related allowances of up to £203.75 per child."

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/liverpool-waive-council-tax-bills-10820160

Hair strand test is unreliable

"Four years ago, Yvonne Marchand lost custody of her daughter.

Even though child services found no proof that she was a negligent parent, that didn't count for much against the overwhelmingly positive results from a hair test. The lab results said she was abusing alcohol on a regular basis and in enormous quantities..."

"Motherisk hair test results indicated that Marchand had been downing 48 drinks a day, for 90 days. `If you do the math, I would have died drinking that much` Marchand says. `There's no way I could function`."

"The court disagreed, and determined Marchand was unfit to have custody of her daughter..."

"As it turns out, Marchand wasn't alone. For over a decade, scores of Canadians received unsound hair test results from Motherisk. Their tests were used in some 16,000 child protection cases as well as six criminal cases that culminated in convictions, although it's unclear how many of those tests were faulty..."

"But by the late 1990's, increasing numbers of child protection agencies were approaching Motherisk with requests to test hair samples, looking to prove that parents were impaired by drugs or alcohol. By the early 2000s, it was advertising nation-wide. As of last year, it was testing approximately 2,000 hair samples each year for child protection agencies..."

"A positive test could be sufficient grounds to separate a child from their parent or parents, and place them in foster care."

"Motherisk was operating like a forensic lab, even though it had never received accreditation to do so. Dr. Gideon Koren, the lab's founder, and Joey Gareri, the lab's director since 2006, were not qualified in forensic science. The fact Motherisk lacked forensic accreditation didn't seem to hurt its evidence's admissibility in court..."

"The magnitude of that mess is becoming increasingly clear."

"The investigation arrived at damning conclusions. The 366-page report — a meticulous examination of every aspect of Motherisk — was released in December. Lang concluded that results from Motherisk hair tests, like Marchand's, were `inadequate`, `unreliable`, and had `serious implications for the fairness of those proceedings.` At the urging of Lang, a commission will review the thousands of child-protection cases which relied on hair testing results from Motherisk."

"Justice Lang's findings have thrown the foster care system and child protection services into total disarray."

"On Monday, the Ontario Association of Children's Aid Societies announced that up to 300 adoption cases were being put on hold while those cases are reviewed, leaving adoptive parents, foster families and adoptees in limbo."

(Feb 4 2016)

https://news.vice.com/article/this-canadian-lab-spent-20-years-ruining-lives

Trauma is passed on through the generations

"A 12-year-old boy has been taken into care because of what a court heard could be the knock-on effects of his grandparents' suffering in the Holocaust 70 years and two generations on."

"Her view was that the father was suffering from unresolved trauma described as a ‘vicarious trauma’ from his parents’ experience of the Holocaust."

"The boy, who cannot be named, has been placed with long-term foster carers after a Family Court judge ruled that the father, who lives in Kent, is unable to care for him because of emotional problems."

"Judge Veronica Hammerton was told that the father, who is Jewish and Russian-speaking, was continually haunted by his own parents’ suffering under the Nazis, colouring his own behaviour decades later."

"In a judgment published online following a hearing in Tunbridge Wells in October, the judge explains that the father does not accept his parents’ suffering as the explanation for his problems."

"But the judge added: `Whatever the explanation as to the cause of the father’s behaviour there is no doubt as to its effect`."

"Judge Hammerton said that although it was clear the father loves his son deeply, he is often `overwhelmed by his own emotions`. "

"Among evidence she read during the hearing was a paper entitled `Parental Rearing Behaviour of Children of the Holocaust Survivors`. "

"She explained: `In her written report Miss Gill described the case as ‘highly complex and concerning’. "

"Her view was that the father was suffering from unresolved trauma described as a ‘vicarious trauma’ from his parents’ experience of the Holocaust."

"She wrote that the father is ‘continually overwhelmed by his traumatic antecedents, associated with both his and his parents’ traumatic past with the result that he is sometimes unable within his thought processing to consistently represent J accurately as a child separate from himself’."

"Judge Hammerton ordered that the boy should remain in long-term foster care and have contact with his father six times a year. "

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/12044809/Father-unable-to-cope-because-of-own-parents-Holocaust-ordeal-court-told.html

No doubt, the expert witness, Miss Gill,  will have been handsomely rewarded for her report by the local authority. But what does it amount to ? Information known about the father has been used to diagnose him with an emotional disturbance that he himself denies.

Using this information the psychologist says: "He is sometimes unable within his thought processing to consistently represent J accurately as a child separate from himself’." In other words the father sees the relationship he has with his son as fundamentally important which the psychologist does not.

None of it is convincing.

Trauma will now be visited on the third and fourth generations of the family. No help was offered.

Foster carer jailed for six years

"A smiling foster mum has been jailed for more than six years after shaking a 23-month-old baby to death and blowing £27,000 of ill-gotten child care fees on a holiday and car."

"Wendy Hardy, 46, assaulted Harry Aspley just months after taking him into her home in December 2012."

"When he struggled to eat without vomiting on March 26, 2013, she lost her temper and shook him so violently he suffered massive brain injuries."

"Hardy then dumped him back in his crib at her home in Stoney Stanton, Leicestershire, only calling an ambulance when her husband David returned from work two hours later."

"Harry was rushed to Leicester Royal Infirmary but died of his injuries five days later."

"Hardy was yesterday jailed for six-and-a-half years after admitting manslaughter and fraud."

"She was initially charged with murder but pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter when she appeared at Leicester Crown Court in November."

"At that appearance, she was seen grinning outside the court room."

"Sentencing her at Birmingham Crown Court on Monday, Judge Jeremy Baker said: 'Harry was a very vulnerable child....."

"The couple were also charged with cruelty due to neglect as Harry lost more than a quarter of his body weight during the three months in their care."

"Those charges were ordered to lie on file and could be proceeded with in the future."

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3417462/Grinning-way-prison-Foster-mother-jailed-six-years-shaking-23-month-old-baby-death.html#ixzz3yPELoLTk