Haringey Council
social workers allegedly "snatched" a child from outside his foster home while
he was playing with friends, less than two hours after his carer lost her fight
for guardianship.
Neighbours of the
foster carer, who had looked after the child, known as Baby C, for 16 months,
told Community Care their own children were traumatised by the way they claim he
was removed by force last month.
One said: “I
didn’t see what happened because I was inside but I heard lots of shouting and
the foster carer was shouting ‘Do not push me, do not push me. There is no need
for that’. I could hear the baby screaming ‘mummy, mummy’.
“Then the kids
came running in saying a ‘naughty lady has taken him away’.”
Another
neighbour, who was returning home, said she saw the foster carer being pushed by
a woman and another woman rushed past her carrying the boy and ran up the street
with him to a nearby car.
More than 150 of
the carer’s neighbours have signed a petition calling for the sacking of the
social workers involved and the council’s director of children’s services,
Sharon Shoesmith.
The boy was
trafficked into the UK and approved for adoption in July. His foster carer had
applied for a special guardianship order but was unsuccessful. She lost her
appeal against
the High Court decision last month.
But Lord Justice
Wall said the boy’s transition from the carer to his adoptive family should be
done with “minimum disruption”.
A Haringey Council spokesperson said it had a “full account of that day which
differs very significantly from the account given and we are confident that
social workers acted appropriately in difficult circumstances”.
But the council
refused to explain why Baby C was removed from his placement so quickly after
the court judgment or how the events of the day were different from what is
alleged by neighbours.
Expert advice on
how to
manage the transition between foster and adoptive care
