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A Final Farewell to Injustice

 Published July 21, 2006

A Final Farewell to Injustice - I wish the public to note that I, my family and all my other supporters believe wholeheartedly that my children should be returned to my care and that they should never have been taken from the family.  The original judge when the children were first taken did not agree that they should be removed from the family and rather that I should be given more support.  I was not told of this at the time and instead was completely misadvised by my own barrister.   At times I struggled to cope with my children’s behavioural problems, as has every foster parent and professional that has been in contact with them since.  However, the court will not allow them back to their own family, even though I now have massive support from my brothers and their families. I did not have the huge input of support or funding that other foster parents have had at home and at school.
 
Social services have already stated in court that they cannot afford to fund me any help or support if the children are returned home, even though the judge has stated that I would need massive help as others have needed.  Despite the limp, one paragraph agreement to rehabilitation by social services, when asked outright by my barrister, social worker stated social services would not agree to rehabilitation, even if I had all positive reports. I believe that the children will never be allowed to return home, and these court hearings, assessments and reports will carry on for years, whilst my children’s childhoods are passing by. This is down to funding rather than what is in their best interests.  The government are ploughing massive amounts of money into fostering and adoption, but there is little money in the social services overstretched budget for helping to keep families together, which is a disgrace. Also the judge may make the final decision but this and the decisions of other professionals are and have been found to be based on the perjurous reports of social services and the guardian who are fighting to keep the children away from their family.     
 
I do not believe that I have paranoid personality traits as stated by Doctor A who diagnosed this after seeing me for only a couple of hours and after reading biased and often untruthful reports by social services. My GP and therapist who know me well did not agree with this diagnosis and actually came to court to state such. Also other professionals since have agreed that I do not have paranoid personality traits and my actions at the time the children were taken were indicative to those of a parent who has had her precious children taken from her. How can I be expected to work happily with professionals such as social services who have taken my children from me and are fighting to keep them away, and who have told such bear faced lies to do this, as well as purposely inflaming the situation?  The court has evidence of this and reference was made to it in the judgement. I am a truthful upfront person and cannot go on with the farce of having therapy any longer.
 
I have never harmed myself or been violent towards anyone until after suffering the agony and heartbreak of having my children taken from me, then having to fight so hard to try and get them back with such inadequate heartbreaking contact arrangements. I have sat in court and listened to social workers, the Guardian and staff from the dreadful Contact Centre perjure themselves with biased and untrue accounts of incidents and situations that have happened over the past few years.  It has been extremely frustrating for me.  I cannot complain for fear of being called paranoid. 
 
I have attended all court hearings, which have been extremely stressful, when fighting for something as precious as your children, against such adversity.  It has not helped that many times the court has been too busy for the hearing even though it was booked in and I had waited months and built myself up for this.  Also the agony of having to wait three months for the judgement did not help matters, and put me through immense upset and worry.   
 
The contact that has been given has been totally inadequate and reduced for the most ridiculous reasons, such as the children crying to come home (not being allowed to settle), as happens in most cases.  To only give children contact with their loving caring mother 4 hours a month is totally barbaric and inhumane, and is enough to devastate any genuine loving parent. This has been despite fantastic reports from the contact centres for months about the way I parent my children. 
 
I also feel that the children’s human rights have been violated.  The children have been isolated from their wider family who they have asked myself and the social worker many times to be able to see. Their wider family have all applied to court in desperation to see their nephews/cousins, but this has just been cruelly dismissed. 
 
The boys have only been allowed to see their elderly grandparents, whom they love very much once a month for an hour which is utterly disgraceful. Their grandparents are almost eighty and could be dead before the children are allowed to return. The children have been denied truly knowing them and what wonderful people they are. Our family have co-operated wholeheartedly with everything the court, social services and guardian has asked for but the children have still been punished by being denied the right to see their family. 
 
Since being taken into care my children have suffered black eyes, other injuries and have made various allegations of abuse but to no avail. Social workers have lied about incidents of abuse, which I have had photographic evidence of. This has not been addressed at all by court.
 
Z’s behaviour has deteriorated massively from being described as a “normal little boy”, which he was, to being excluded from school and going to a school for children either with special needs or for unruly children. I only hope I and their family can pick up the pieces when they come back to us and that they are not amongst the 36% of children in care who end up in prison or the 75% of care leavers un-employed with no qualifications.
 
I am astounded that father, their own father can agree to them being kept in long term care, especially given their deterioration and abuse suffered whilst in care.  Yet he knows what a good, loving mother I was and still am.  His brother has even voiced the same, and I am sure his family agree. He is an absolute disgrace.         
 
My children are my life.  They always have been and always will be. Without them life is unbearable. I find the decision of the court utterly Dickensian and totally unjust. I only hope that the family courts are eventually opened to the public and media, which MP’s and various other professionals are crying out for so that justice is seen to be done, as in criminal courts.  Then terrible cases of injustice like this, which sentence children to a wrecked childhood isolated from their loving family hopefully, will never be allowed to happen again.
Sincerely A.S