Corellie Bonhomme now
happily reunited with her daughter Fifi after the sheriff's ruling.
Picture: Colin Templeton
Social workers
condemned after newly born child was taken from mother
Woman was in last
stages of giving birth
Sheriff rules social
workers action as 'wrong'
A SHERIFF has condemned social workers who
removed a newborn baby from her mother only minutes after the child's umbilical
cord was cut. Two social workers and two sheriff officers entered the birthing suite as
Corellie Bonhomme went into the final stages of labour. Immediately after her
daughter, Fifi, was born, they took her away after obtaining a sheriff's order
giving them permission to take custody.
Key quotes
He said Ms Bonhomme's long-running dispute with social workers in Camden had led
to the authorities in Scotland taking the baby into care unnecessarily. He also
criticised the way Fifi was taken.
Commenting on the incident in the birthing suite, Sheriff Ross said: "Fifi was
removed very soon after birth. It was not clear to me why that was necessary.
She was in hospital in the secure care of the staff there. There was no evidence
that Ms Bonhomme was intending to leave precipitately."
He also questioned Dumfries and Galloway Council for basing the Child Protection
Order on "extremely contentious" English proceedings. Sheriff Kenneth Ross
Mother
"I was in the throes of labour, quite dilated and about to deliver. My back was
bent backwards, the head was sticking out and I was just about to push the rest
of the body out. I raised my head and saw two men and two women walk into the
birthing room." - Corellie Bonhomme
Story in full:
http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=877002006 also your comments
A
SHERIFF has condemned social workers who removed a newborn baby from her mother
only minutes after the child's umbilical cord was cut.
Two social workers and two sheriff officers entered the birthing suite as
Corellie Bonhomme went into the final stages of labour. Immediately after her
daughter, Fifi, was born, they took her away after obtaining a sheriff's order
giving them permission to take custody.
But after a five-month fight and a lengthy hearing, another sheriff has ruled
the decision and the way it was enforced was wrong, and he ordered the child to
be reunited with her mother.
Ms Bonhomme, 34, has also received an apology from NHS Dumfries and Galloway
over the incident at Dumfries Royal Infirmary last December. The trust has
promised to change its working practices.
Now reunited with Fifi, Ms Bonhomme, who lives in Dumfries, said only the baby's
head had appeared when the door opened and social workers accompanied by sheriff
officers came into the room at the hospital to serve a Child Protection Order to
take the baby into care.
She said medical staff restrained her as she tried to clamber down from the
delivery table to stop Fifi, now aged six months, being taken away.
"I had a needle in my arm and was on morphine and was having gas and air when I
heard a midwife say, 'oh, there's social work involvement'.
"I was in the throes of labour, quite dilated and about to deliver. My back was
bent backwards, the head was sticking out and I was just about to push the rest
of the body out. I raised my head and saw two men and two women walk into the
birthing room.
"I pushed Fi out and the doctor took her away. I never got to touch her. I tried
to get up. I was trying to get hold of the baby. But the staff said 'get back on
the bed, get back on the bed'. The doctor put his hand just above my chest and
pushed me down, saying the placenta was still to come out. It was horrific. I
was going 'where's my baby, I want my baby'.
"I spent Christmas alone, crying and crying and wondering how I could get Fifi
back."
The original child protection order was issued by Sheriff Kenneth Barr on 15
December last year, the day baby Fifi was born.
But Ms Bonhomme, who has had two previous children removed by social services in
the London borough of Camden, was determined to win back her daughter.
Last month, Sheriff Kenneth Ross overruled the legal order and granted her
custody.
He said Ms Bonhomme's long-running dispute with social workers in Camden had led
to the authorities in Scotland taking the baby into care unnecessarily. He also
criticised the way Fifi was taken.
Commenting on the incident in the birthing suite, Sheriff Ross said: "Fifi was
removed very soon after birth. It was not clear to me why that was necessary.
She was in hospital in the secure care of the staff there. There was no evidence
that Ms Bonhomme was intending to leave precipitately."
He also questioned Dumfries and Galloway Council for basing the Child Protection
Order on "extremely contentious" English proceedings.
He said Camden social work department's approach of viewing "Fifi's welfare
entirely through the prism of their experience and perception" of Ms Bonhomme's
care of her other two children had transmitted itself to Dumfries and Galloway's
social work department and that had led them to apply for the Child Protection
Order.
A child protection case conference in Camden last September placed the unborn
Fifi on the Child Protection Register under the category 'neglect'. It also
recommended the child be placed under police protection at birth and removed
from her mother, with care proceedings to be initiated immediately.
Dumfries and Galloway Council instigated legal proceedings after Camden's legal
move was communicated to them.
Camden had become involved after Ms Bonhomme left hospital early after the birth
of her second child in 2003 against medical advice. They initiated proceedings
because of what they claim was her erratic behaviour, failure to provide
appropriate and satisfactory care for her children and hostility towards
professional staff.
But Sheriff Ross said the report did not present a full picture of Ms Bonhomme's
current life circumstances, in particular her two-year relationship with a new
partner, Derek Bryden, and offers from his family to help with Fifi's
upbringing.
A spokesman for Dumfries and Galloway Council said they had followed normal
procedure in cases like this and would abide by the judgment of the court. He
added: "As Ms Bonhomme has made a complaint to the council, it would be
inappropriate to make any further comment."
NHS Dumfries and Galloway said: "A complaint was received from the individual
concerned and responded to in accordance with the NHS complaints procedure. The
complaint remains part of the complaints process and, accordingly, it would be
inappropriate to comment further."
Actions 'may breach human rights law'
THE treatment of Ms Bonhomme in the birthing suite at Dumfries and Galloway
Royal Infirmary was last night described as a potential breach of human rights
legislation.
John Scott, the chairman of the Scottish Human Rights Centre, said: "This could
be seen as a breach of Article 8 which guarantees the right to privacy and
family life.
"It is certainly a breach of common decency and completely unacceptable.
"There should not be anyone in a birthing room except the woman, her husband or
partner and medical staff.
"There needs to be proper guidance issued to make sure it never happens again."
Shona Robison, SNP health spokeswoman, said: "This appears to have been very
heavy-handed and a breach of privacy and dignity."
However, a spokeswoman for the Royal College of Midwives said that in such
circumstances medical staff were being put in an extremely difficult position.
"The guiding principle for us is the wellbeing of the mother and child and we
would not do anything to jeopardise that relationship.
"But if two legal officers appear on the scene and are present at, for example,
ten minutes after the birth, which would be regarded as 'post natal', we
wouldn't have a choice. We would strongly object if they appeared while the
woman was giving birth as we would not want them around at the point of
delivery."
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SHÂN ROSS
SHONA Robison, the SNP's health spokeswoman, last night called for an urgent
external review into the case of Corellie Bonhomme, whose newborn baby was
removed by social workers minutes after the umbilical cord was cut.
In The Scotsman yesterday, Ms Bonhomme, 34, from Dumfries, told how social
workers had entered the labour room to seize her baby while she was giving birth
in order to seize her baby.
She was reunited with her daughter Fifi last month following a five-month legal
battle with Dumfries and Galloway Council.
Ms Robison said: "There needs to be an external look into this case to make sure
such a thing never happens to a mother and child in Scotland again.
"Such a review should look at working practices in hospitals, health boards and
local authorities and any external agencies involved in a particular case.
"We need to establish a framework for good practice which works and is
accountable to the public."
Fifi was taken into council care on 15 December last year after social workers
in Dumfries received background reports from the London Borough of Camden.
The English legal proceedings were questioned and the original decision to take
Fifi into care was overruled by Sheriff Kenneth Ross at Dumfries Sheriff Court.
Meanwhile, Jean Robinson, the honorary research officer for the Association for
Improvements in Maternity Services, a maternity care pressure group, said: "The
details of what happened to Corellie Bonhomme are appalling and the most serious
case we've seen in the UK."
