Parents should flee UK to stop social workers taking children, says Lib Dem family campaigner
- Liberal Democrat MP John Hemming spoken out as evidence emerged suggesting children are being wrongly taken into care
- Chairman of the Justice for Families group said he has been contacted by hundreds of parents
- They believe they have been unfairly targeted by social services
Liberal Democrat MP Mr Hemming warned that cases can be skewed against parents because councils hold ¿all the cards¿
Parents who face having their children taken away by social workers should flee abroad rather than go through the ‘unfair’ family courts, an MP has declared.
Controversial families campaigner John Hemming spoke out as evidence emerged suggesting children are being wrongly taken into care – when injuries caused by vitamin deficiency are assumed to be signs of abuse.
Babies who do not get enough Vitamin D can suffer fractures.
In several cases children have been taken because the courts ruled injuries were caused by mistreatment, a BBC Panorama documentary will claim tonight.
And Liberal Democrat MP Mr Hemming warned that cases can be skewed against parents because councils hold ‘all the cards’.
The chairman of the Justice for Families group said he has been contacted by hundreds of parents who believe they have been unfairly targeted by social services.
He said: ‘All the cards are held by the local authority. It has the resources to fight the cases, it does all the assessments.’
He added: ‘My advice to people if they can afford it is just to go abroad. You can’t get a fair trial here, because you can’t rely on the evidence being fair. It’s best simply to go if you can, at the right time, lawfully.’
His comments come amid concerns over the record number of children being taken into care by councils – more than 11,000 last year.
The BBC documentary looks at four families who say their babies were unfairly taken away because of injuries which were the result of Vitamin D deficiency.
Mother Jill McCartan, 25, took her daughter Alyssa to hospital after noticing swelling on her arm back in May 2010. Doctors spotted four tiny fractures, Wokingham Borough Council took her into care and Alyssa has now been adopted.
Escape: Jill Mccarten and son Lo'iq who fled to Spain after her daughter was adopted
When her mother became pregnant again, she was determined not to let social services intervene – and decided to flee to Spain where her son Lo’iq was born.
Jill, a hairdresser from Reading in Berkshire, said: ‘It’s hard having to leave the country that you’ve grown up in. I didn’t really want to leave but I wasn’t going to have my second baby taken by social services.’
But Anthony Douglas, the chief executive of the Children and Family Court Advisors and Support Service , said: ‘Leaving the country doesn’t solve the problem for the vast majority of children and parents.’
- Panorama I Want My Baby Back will be on BBC One tonight at 9pm.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2538376/Parents-flee-UK-stop-social-workers-taking-children-says-Lib-Dem-family-campaigner.html#ixzz4e4FmBzVh
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