http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/9545361/Foreign-government-may-take-UK-to-European-court-over-its-illegal-child-snatching.html
Mr Hemming plans to raise his concerns with the new children’s minister, Edward Timpson, a family law barrister who himself has two adopted siblings and whose parents have acted as foster carers to more than 80 children.
Foreign government may take UK to European court over
its ‘illegal’ child-snatching
The Slovakian government has
such ‘serious concern’ over the workings of Britain’s ‘family protection’
system that it plans to challenge the legality of the policy in Strasbourg
In an unprecedented move, a
foreign government is threatening to take Britain to the European Court of
Human Rights (ECHR) to challenge the unusual
readiness of our social workers and courts to remove children from their
parents for “no sound reason”.
So disturbed is the
government of Slovakia by the number of Slovak parents who have lost their
children in Britain in recent years that its justice ministry has posted a
declaration highly critical of Britain on its website and says that, if a
decision of the Appeal Court this Tuesday goes against one Slovak family, it
will back an appeal to the Strasbourg court that Britain has acted illegally.
I have often reported here on the
zeal with which British social workers are not only prepared to travel abroad
to seize children born there to British parents, but also to remove children
from foreign families in Britain, even when they may only be visiting here on
holiday.
But this is the
first time a foreign government has sought formally to challenge a practice
that is almost unique in Europe (although worldwide headlines were made
recently by a similar case where two children were seized from an Indian family
resident in Norway, but were eventually returned to India after the
intervention of the Indian government).
The case that goes to the Appeal Court this week
concerns two young boys, Slovakian subjects, whose parents have lived and
worked in Britain since their country joined the EU in 2004. Two years ago, when the parents took one of their sons
to hospital to enquire about a minor infection, social workers were alerted
that it might be the result of a “non-accidental injury”. The boys were put
into the temporary care of the family’s American pastor, who describes how
social workers then arrived with three police cars to remove the children,
screaming as they were torn from their horrified mother and grandmother, to an
official foster home.
Thus began a protracted legal battle, involving many
court hearings, four different social workers, seven “expert” doctors and
psychologists, 16 interpreters, 13 different “contact supervisors” and dozens
of lawyers. Initially the local authority seemed happy to contemplate that the
children might be returned to live with their grandmother in Slovakia, but the social workers of a council that advertises
its enthusiasm for adoption on its website then suggested to the foster carers
that they might like to adopt the boys.
By now the Slovak authorities were involved and could
see no reason why the children should not come back to live with their
grandmother. But earlier this year a judge found in favour of the council,
ruling, to the astonishment of the Slovak authorities, that the boys should be
adopted. The family enlisted the help of John Hemming MP, who has had
sympathetic support from the Slovak ambassador to London.
The case has attracted widespread media interest in
Slovakia, and the Slovak justice ministry has posted on its website a
“Declaration on adoption of Slovak children in the UK”, stating that it has
such “serious concern” over the workings of Britain’s
“family protection” system, and the readiness of the British authorities to
remove children from their “biological parents” for “no sound reason”, that its
representative on the ECHR plans to challenge the legality of Britain’s policy
in Strasbourg.
Mr Hemming, whose Justice for Families team has been closely involved in
putting together the family’s plea on Tuesday for leave to appeal against the
decision that the children cannot be given into the care of their grandmother,
says that the Slovak media claim to know of some 30 other Slovak
children taken from their parents in this way.
He
is also in touch with the authorities of other countries who express similar
concern over treatment of their nationals in Britain. “This is a deeply
disturbing case,” he says, “which only serves to highlight the shock experienced by many foreigners
when they discover how the British system works, not least because most come
from countries where such things would be unthinkable.”
Mr Hemming plans to raise his concerns with the new children’s minister, Edward Timpson, a family law barrister who himself has two adopted siblings and whose parents have acted as foster carers to more than 80 children.
Lees dit eerdere artikel:
Terug
naar Alle artikelen Jeugdzorg Dark horse
Nog even en elk Europees land dat enig ander land wijst op mensenrechtenschendingen zal als wedervraag worden verzocht om eerst eens opheldering te geven over de wantoestanden in de eigen jeugd'bescherming' ..
BeantwoordenVerwijderenIk blijf nog even schreeuwen; wie daagt al die hufters voor het tribunaal?
BeantwoordenVerwijderenDit is massamishandeling, ontvoering, verkrachting van de kinderzieltjes /gezinnen en er zijn doden gevallen. De corrupte rechters mogen nog steeds ongeneerd hun gang gaan van de corrupte Europese regeringen die door het NJI zijn geïnfecteerd.
Tribunaal waardig, maar wie gaat zijn of haar ogen openen?