Please let April come home to us

METRO (Newspaper) Wednesday 3rd October, 2012
by NADIA GILANI

THE parents of missing five-year-old April Jones last night pleaded for her kidnapper to let her go.

Coral Jones, 40, and her husband Paul, 43, issued their heartfelt plea as police questioned a suspect over their daughter’s disappearance.

They said: ‘Last night our lives were shattered when our beautiful little girl, April, who was playing with friends, was taken from us.

‘We are devastated and our lives have stopped. Please, please if you have our little girl, let her come home to us.’

The appeal came hours after officers detained a 46-year-old man, thought to be Mark Bridger, as they patrolled the north of the Powys town of Machynlleth.

He was said to be a person they were looking for in connection with April’s disappearance on Monday evening. A vehicle, which he ‘had use of and which is of interest to the inquiry’, was also being examined by forensic officers last night.

Bridger was said to be well known in the town and to April’s family but was not a relative.

Det Supt Reg Bevan said officers were ‘hopeful the suspect will assist us in locating April’ and that the hunt was continuing ‘with the view that she is still alive’.

April was last seen getting willingly into a van while playing with friends near her home.

Hundreds of people joined the hunt for the five-year-old yesterday, while the armed forces and specialist teams equipped with thermal imaging cameras were drafted in.

Police are also checking for links to another attempted abduction in the area a week ago. They are investigating the movements of registered sex offenders living in the area.

Social Services’ Stamp feet over Subjective Storyline

Local Authority complain of the “unfair portrayal” of Staff in BBC’s Eastenders, as the soap depicts a Social Worker heartlessly snatching a baby from the arms of targeted teen mum – who was left helpless and emotionally crippled, while powerless in preventing her daughter from becoming the latest victim to our Draconian system. Continue reading →

Don’t Fuck Up Your Children

Lord Justice Wall to Retire December 2012

In one of the sternest judicial warnings to warring parents I have come across, Lord Justice Wall (left) quoted from Philip Larkin in the case of R (A Child), Re [2009] EWCA Civ 358 yesterday. The case involved a highly acrimonious residence application, part of a dispute between the parents that had been on-going since they separated in 2003. Judge Everall QC at Luton County Court had found that it was no longer possible for the parents and the child to work together, and so made a residence order in favour of the paternal grandparents. The mother’s appeal against that order was granted but Lord Justice Wall in the Court of Appeal gave a warning to the parents of the serious harm that their actions were causing to their child. “I hope this case has given the mother a fright. I hope it has also given the father a fright.” He said. “They have come within a whisker of losing their child.” In a postscript to his judgment he then quoted from Larkin’s poem This Be The Verse:

They fuck you up, your mum and dad.

They may not mean to, but they do.

They fill you with the faults they had

And add some extra, just for you.

These four lines” he said “seem to me to give a clear warning to parents who, post separation, continue to fight the battles of the past, and show each other no respect.”

Let us hope that more parents heed the warning.

Posted by John Bolch at 11:56 AM

Retirement of the President of the Family Division and Head of Family Justice for England and Wales

Menu | Home | News | Judicial appointments

Retirement of the President of the Family Division and Head of Family Justice for England and Wales
Friday, 28 September 2012

Sir Nicholas Wall will retire as the President of the Family Division and Head of Family Justice for England and Wales on 1 December 2012 on grounds of ill health.
Notes to editors
Sir Nicholas (Peter Rathbone) Wall (67) was called to the Bar (G) in 1969. He took silk in 1988 and became a Bencher in 1993. He was appointed an Assistant Recorder in 1988 and a Recorder in 1990. He was appointed a High Court Judge (Family Division) in 1993 and to the Court of Appeal and Privy Council in 2004.
He was a Judge of the Employment Appeal Tribunal from 2001 to 2003; a Judge of the Administrative Court from 2003 to 2004. He was a member of the Lord Chancellor’s Advisory Board on Family Law, 1997 to 2001 (Chairman of the Children Act Sub-Committee, 1998 to 2001). Sir Nicholas was appointed as the President of the Family Division and Head of Family Justice for England and Wales on 13 April 2010.

(to view this article directly from it’s source, please click the hyper-link below)

Justice for Our Children

Doctor struck off for abusing boys

Wednesday September 26, 2012, [as reported] by TARIQ TAHIR

A FORMER doctor at Great Ormond Street children’s hospital has been struck off the medical register after being found guilty of molesting boys.

Prof Philipp Bonhoeffer was judged by a tribunal panel to have acted inappropriately towards children in Kenya and France.

He was dismissed by the London hospital in 2010.

A Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service panel yesterday ruled his fitness to practise was impaired by reason of misconduct and decided to strike his name from the register.

Bonhoeffer’s actions were ‘calculated, deplorable and an abuse of his special position of trust,’ the panel ruled.

The cardiologist sexually touched a boy in France in 1997 and abused youngsters for more than 15 years while carrying out medical work for a charity in Kenya, the panel heard. Bonhoeffer was employed by Great Ormond Street in 2001 as a consultant cardiologist. In 2002, he became head of cardiology until his dismissal.

Panel chairman David Kyle said: ‘Prof Bonhoeffer has been found to have persistently exploited vulnerable young boys over an extended period of time with sexual motivation.

‘The panel has concluded his conduct is not merely unacceptable — it is fundamentally incompatible with continued medical registration.’

The panel’s decision was welcomed by the General Medical Council.

The doctor did not attend the panel hearing in Manchester or submit any evidence, but a statement from his lawyers said he denied the allegations made against him.

It went on: ‘He has no intention of resuming the practice of medicine in the United Kingdom.’

ADOPTIONS (from care) Rise by 12%

Family Law Weekly > Home > News

Children adopted from care numbers rise by 12% in the last year

BAAF calls for focus on increasing the number of placements from care

Latest figures released by the Department for Education show that there were 67,050 looked after children at 31 March 2012, an increase of 2 per cent compared to 31 March 2011 and an increase of 13 per cent compared to 31 March 2008.

There were 28,220 children who started to be looked after during the year ending 31 March 2012.

This represents an increase of 3 per cent from the previous year’s figure of 27,500 and an increase of 21 per cent from 2008. There were 27,350 children who ceased to be looked after during the year ending 31 March 2012. This is a small increase of 1 per cent from 2011 and an increase of 12 per cent from 2008.

There were 3,450 looked after children adopted during the year ending 31 March 2012. This was the highest figure since 2007 and an increase of 12 per cent from the 2011 figure.

Of children looked after at 31 March 2012, 50,260 were cared for in a foster placement. This represents 75 per cent of all children looked after at 31 March 2012.

The statistical release can be read here.

Edward Timpson, Minister for Children and Families, said:

“The rise in the number of adoptions and adoption placement orders is extremely welcome, but it still takes too long for those who want to adopt and foster to be approved. The time it takes for a child in care to be adopted can be a significant period in that child’s life.

“I know from my own family that parents who adopt and foster bring stability to young lives. That is why we are overhauling adoption, but I know that our reforms will take time to make a full impact.

“So we are looking at measures to encourage councils to make use of adopters in other parts of the country. We will shorten the approval process and fast track those who are already foster carers.

“Taken together I hope these reforms will, over time, encourage more people to come forward and volunteer to adopt children. I want more young children to have a settled start in life with a loving family.

“That way, they can make a profound and lasting impact on young lives.”

The British Association for Adoption & Fostering (BAAF) is pleased to see that the number of children adopted from care in the year April 2011-Mar 2012 increased by 12%.

BAAF says that the headline statistic of 3,450 children adopted from care measures the number of children who were the subject of an Adoption Order by a court during the year in question. Typically the court will make an Order some 9 months after a child first goes to live with their new adoptive family. As such the statistic measures the very end of the adoption process and is not the best indicator of current adoption practice.

To get a better sense of what is happening in adoption, BAAF believes that there is a need to focus on the statistic of the number of children placed for adoption during the year. That statistic shows a very slight decrease in the numbers of children placed for adoption during the year from 2,710 in 2010/11 to 2,680 in 2011/12. From experience BAAF thinks this means that the significant increase seen in numbers adopted will be sustained next year but is unlikely to increase further.

BAAF says:

“Our focus now has to be on increasing the number of children placed for adoption. We know that currently there are at least 2,000 children in foster care with a plan for adoption who are not in an adoptive placement. This is in large part because of a chronic shortage of adopters for particular groups of children e.g. children in sibling groups, older children, children with disabilities, etc. If we could find adopters for those children who are waiting we would see further substantial increases in adoption over the next few years and this could only increase the impact of the Government’s welcome adoption reform programme.

“The latest statistics provide an encouraging base on which to build. To make further progress, we need to see a concerted whole system focus on increasing adopter recruitment, speeding up court processes, improving the adopter assessment process and ensuring adoption support. We know that adoption works and we owe it to every child who has a plan for adoption to realise that plan for them without delay. BAAF looks forward to continuing to do everything it can to help the Government’s adoption reform programme to succeed.”

BAAF also notes the very significant year on year increase in the numbers of children who were the subject of Special Guardianship Orders – a 20% increase in a single year. This figure does need to be seen in the context of the increase in adoptions and shows that the number of children achieving permanence through these different routes increased substantially year on year.

Protest in Rome as Italian Parents Accuse Britain of Forced Adoption

Italy had a big rally last week in Rome over the British stolen kids by the Social workers in the uk, so with Slovak going to the human courts it all has to turn soon.

Posted using Tinydesk Writer iPhone app

Aussie Gov Apologises for Forced Adoptions

The TELEGRAPH (Australia)
Breaking National News

NSW govt to apologise over forced adoption
by: By Lema Samandar From: AAP August 21, 2012 4:27PM
NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell says an official apology to victims of forced adoption won’t change the past but it might ease the pain of mothers whose babies were taken.

An estimated 150,000 Australian babies born between the 1950s and 70s were taken from their mostly young and single mothers.

Mr O’Farrell told parliament it was hard to imagine the grief and trauma of the mothers.

“An apology for the women, the children, the fathers and the families of NSW, who were adversely affected by the practice of forced adoption, has been a long time coming,” he said during question time on Tuesday.

“It is time to face the past and reflect on those unlawful and unethical actions.

“It’s time to try and ease the pain of those affected.

“We can’t change what happened but we can recognise it did occur.”

The apology will be delivered during a joint sitting of NSW Parliament in September.

Advertisement

Labor has offered its bipartisan support for the apology.

“This is a significant step for the women and children who, in many cases, were put through unimaginable and lifelong trauma,” opposition leader John Robertson said in a statement.

Christine Cole, the convenor of Apology Alliance Australia, which represents survivors of forced adoption, said her baby was taken from her because she was unmarried.

“It left me scarred for the rest of my life,” she told ABC Radio.

A federal Senate report, released in February, recommended that Australian governments formally apologise to mothers and children who were victims of past forced adoption practices.

South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill issued a parliamentary apology in July while his Victorian counterpart Ted Baillieu earlier this month flagged an apology for past injustices.

The Western Australian government has already apologised and the Commonwealth is planning a similar parliamentary motion.

A NSW parliamentary inquiry into forced adoptions was held in 1998.

Posted using Tinydesk Writer iPhone app