Our first story in this series looks at what happens when an adoption is badly filed.
1. Could you give a brief summary of the facts of your case?
I went through adoption proceedings for one of my children. It was not a voluntary adoption, it was forced.
2. What went wrong in your case?
There were serious administrative failings in our case, including the wrong adoption year and name being written on the adoption certificate as well as queries over the authenticity of the certificate itself, which led me to wonder whether the adoption had gone through at all. I also felt as if the evidence I produced was either ignored or dismissed and all the positive reports about me as an excellent mother were never acknowledged with a view to looking at potential options for support. Instead, adoption seemed like the end goal from the beginning.
3. What happened after you alerted the professionals to the errors?
When I complained to the Information Commissioner’s Office that the wrong adoption year had been applied, they accepted my complaint and wrote to my council. The council gave an unsatisfactory response which included unfounded comments about myself and the nature of the case.
4. How do you feel the errors were dealt with?
Pretty badly. Despite the error on the adoption certificate, which was hugely traumatic given that it suggested the adoption had happened years before the event took place, there has been no compensation or no suggestion of compensation. The errors spread across my family court judgments though acknowledged, were never put right, so the documentation is filled with errors making it almost impossible for me to get any kind of legal relief. As a litigant in person I also felt very let down by the court, no one really helped me understand what I needed to submit for hearings or how these things should be done. If I had had some help, maybe a lot of errors could have been avoided and my case would not still be going 10 years on.
5. What do you think could have been done differently?
I think the professionals in the case should have been more careful about the administration of the adoption process and more mindful of the fact that I did not have legal representation, through no fault of my own. I also felt they did not listen to my son and give his wishes and feelings the weight they deserved or take into account my ability to care for my son.
6. What message would you like to pass on to the child welfare system?
My message to the child welfare system would be to ensure regular checks are done on their written records they hold. In my case, this led to my child’s identity being interfered with, which is a hugely serious thing and definitely not in any child’s best interest.
The father should realise that each time an adoption is arranged the adoption agency gets £27,000 and that is all that concerns the administrators ,so never expect any help from them !
He should apply for contact (see below) and once in court bring out all these errors in front of the judge at the same time querying the legality of the adoption.
Remember that since April 2014
the new section 51A of the Adoption and Children Act 2002, makes provision for applications for contact AFTER an adoption order has been made.
IF YOU APPLY FOR CONTACT THAT IS ALSO A GOOD WAY TO FIND OUT IF YOUR CHILD HAS BEEN ADOPTED OR NOT !
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2014/6/pdfs/ukpga_20140006_en.pdf
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Reblogged this on World4Justice : NOW! Lobby Forum..
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Reblogged this on tummum's Blog and commented:
NEW (first story) where some stories will have reporting restrictions xx
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Thanks for sharing your story.
only the brave will bring change and Justice.
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They don’t do any checks sadly they placed my granddaughter in immediate danger when born taken at birth took 48 hours to report a attempted abduction on her..the threat was made that was good enough,when I rang them 2 days later,they forgot.as it was social service we didn’t have a clue where she was . Our nightmare is only just starting she’s 21 months and after sustaining 2 head injuries and denied medical attention by 19 ppl + involved I named them. My son believed in the family courts,my son thought he was getting his little girl who was taken at birth and met her 3 months old.keeping to there 1 hour contract only. Made lies up and judge let it pass. We only found out on 3/3/2017 she was transferred to another hospital and there 5 days,we found out after that poor 18 month old was murdered recently she was taken to England on 16/8/17. My sons a broken young man had his confidence knocked out of him and put through the brutal test section 47(5) forever loving home…. it killed me as a mum/nan to read that, he had to listen to it being read out in the secret courts. I will never forget or be able to forgive them all,he was training in the army and quit as not good enough care, papers were wrong and full of lies misleading and inaccurate information and allowed it.he hasn’t got a criminal record,don’t drink/never done drugs , smokes cigarettes occasionally that’s it. Apparently he’s given birth to 7 children and the oldest child is in fact a year older than himself???, refers to the baby as a boy. Naming people in there we now know to be LOOKED AFTER CHILDREN BY THE LOCAL AUTHORITIES????? There’s no room for error these are babies and children’s lives. When you have a child it’s for life not till reaches the age of 18,….. it’s a very sad and curruption throughout the system. MPs lied to hide it I named them the local authorities and council and cafcass 3 managers,3 social workers, director 2 high managers,including the judge x2 couldn’t get any names,dates who tried revoking orders. He wasn’t allowed to speak in court,misrepresented denied advocacy and mekensize freind, not allowed to cross examine anyone or call any witnesses including police who named them
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Thank you for your comment. I’m so sorry to hear about your experience. If you would like to take part in the interview series we are doing, please get in touch.
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I I will Natasha please this has to be explained 9 hours telling our story.thank you very much for all your hard work in all you do.were still fighting and this is the first I’ve gone in to more detail of what happened to dad and baby xxx sorry to hear about your own case there was many errors in ours 303 to be exact and wrong name.sex.etcetc tired of going over it in my own head we protest and hardly anyone turns up kind regards sam
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