Over zealous social services officials, who sometimes appear to have learnt their trade at the King Herod School for Baby Snatchers, have been brought up short by a judge. In this New Labour world of "we know best", the indignity and inhuman actions that seem to accompany officialdom know no bounds. The judge, Mr Justice Munby, at the High Court, said no baby could be removed "as the result of a decision taken by officials in some room". That's the point here. They put motherhood aside, they reckoned on a form-filling excercise, backed up by a clinical approach to the seizure.
The mother did indeed have mental problems and a troubled childhood. She's only 18. But do we really want people in our social services who would do Vinegar Joe Stalin proud, or do we want caring professionals who have the ability to think for themselves, have a bit of charity (yes, charity, that old fashioned word - it just means love with strength of mind!), and can use common sense.
Nottingham Social Services are determined to take the baby boy into "care". They are in a mood, which given a long leash, could frighten most people. The woman's solicitor said she faced the prospect of "an application by the local authority social services for an interim care order, which will be vigorously contested". The judge added that the situation was "most unfortunate". He said officials involved in the case "should have known better". Certainly they should.
We must be vigilant against these types and promote a standard of care that we would all be proud of. Many times social services do what they think the law requires, or what they think is right, without consideration for human emotion or pain. It's all too clinically brutal. Sometimes they forget about the real problems, such as Victoria Climbier.
Thank goodness we have judges who can stand up to the menaces lurking within the New Labour mentality. Whilst I very much want children to be protected from any form of harm or neglect, I believe there are also many injustices perpetrated on innocent families. These families may not be that articulate or sterotypically normal by certain standards, but an injustice is an injustice.
Groups such as
Forced Adoption,
Unity-Injustice, and
PAROC (Parents Against Removal of Children) are fighting for justice.
John Hemming MP is doing very good work in this regard. He also supports a referendum on the EU Treaty, but that's another matter!
So I would hope that we can campaign for better social services, more transparency (Gordon Brown's new buzz word), and employing firm but fair people who understand the needs and welfare of our children.
The Daily Mirror has the headline "Lib Dem MP Christine Hemming accused of stealing a kitten from mother of husband's daughter" except, of course, she is not the MP, it is her husband John Hemming, up the road from me in Yardley. Christine Hemming is the sort of wronged wife of which TV movies are made. When magistrates asked her if she wanted to be called Mrs or Miss, she said: "I'm not quite sure at the moment." Mr Hemming still lives with his wife in Moseley, Birmingham, but yesterday described his domestic status as "unclear". He went on to say, "I'd just like the cat back. I've spent time looking for the kitten. Her brother, Twinkle, is pining for her." When Christine found out about the relationship bewtween her husband and the kitten's owner in 2005, she stood by her millionaire husband and said that the six-year affair was "about number 26". Christine, you sound like a media man's dream. Roll on the crown court case. High on drama, high on legal costs. That's the LibDem contribution to credit crisis management.
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