Barnsley council has said that it will make a complaint to the Sheffield Crown Court, after one of its judges likened social workers at the local authority to Hitler’s paramilitary organization, the SS. Judge Robert Moore also called the council’s social workers ‘draconian’, after reviewing its handling of a child protection case.
The Crown Court judge was sentencing a father for harassing a school teacher, as part of a case which saw the council wrongly accuse the father of sexually abusing his daughter, and subjecting her to invasive and unnecessary medical examinations.
Formal grounds for the council’s complaint are not clear, though it’s unlikely that any action will stem from the grievance. Community Care followed up on the story this week, after this site published details about the case last Friday. The online magazine also linked to our piece on the case, and quoted a selection from a judgment we shared, in which Munby criticises parents for likening social workers to the SS. The magazine did not offer information on why parents use the term, which has come about as a result of the often inhumane treatment families face when engaging with social services. How the council found out about the judge’s comments also remains unclear.
In June 2013, Munby, who was President of the Family Division at that time, reprimanded the parents in the case harshly for calling social workers Nazis, but he was also on the cusp of changing his mind about the child protection sector, forever. Just four months later, in October of that same year, he released another public judgment, in which he attacked social workers who had failed to tell parents that their children were being adopted. He went on to say that the social workers’ conduct, which included breaching a court order and blocking the family from mounting challenges to the adoptions, was ‘deplorable’ and ‘symptomatic of a deeply rooted culture in family courts’. Their conduct was also illegal. Munby’s frustration with the family justice system only deepened throughout his presidency. That concerns over the child protection sector would spill out into the criminal justice system, is not altogether unexpected.
Barnsley council’s executive director for people, Rachel Dickinson, told Community Care that Judge Moore’s comments were directed at children’s social workers generally rather than at her staff, and she told the magazine that the comments were “distasteful, derogatory and undermining the essential work social workers do”.
eugene1957 said:
wonder how long this poor judge will survive. Probably he forgot who is his boss…
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Roger Crawford said:
Well, to repeat an old phrase, Rachel Dickinson ‘would say that, wouldn’t she?’ Derogatory, distasteful. . . .what about the SS’s conduct?? Rachel, heal thyself!
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Marua said:
The truth is so painful
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Marua said:
Well social services say Whatever they want about the parents, they call they prostituts , drugees, alcoólicas and they prove with fake doctors reports that the parents are mentally sick to get their goals ……..I will cal them a deferent name, but …………everything for the best interest of the child 👶
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Paul Roberts said:
“distasteful, derogatory and undermining the essential work social workers do”? all social workers (including mental health and adult services) collect information that is often used in family courts, although the information is distorted into fiction and weaponized against the parents. the judge should have said they’re acting “worse than” ww2 nazis. at least the nazis put the parents out of their misery and daily emotional torture after kidnapping their children for lebensborn.
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Tara Lawther said:
Fab news finally they are getting this corrupt system. The judge still gets paid, so love this judge with a set. Brilliant I am sure all these cases are as boring as hell. All the same stuff on every family. Potential risk of emotional or physcial abuse. I could POTENTIALLY hurt a lying sw but wouldnt.
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Ian Josephs said:
The main difference between the Nazis and our “SS” is that the corrupt UK fostering and adoption industries are making millions of £s out of kidnapping children whilst the Nazis did it for mistaken idealism not for cash !!
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familycoalition said:
Not the first time …. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2720414/Why-I-falsely-accused-father-abusing-daughter-Police-leant-stand-claim-social-worker-told-tribunal.html
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Nemo Momenti said:
It might be interesting to submit an FOI request to find out what complaint goes in and what the response is.
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Dr. Manhattan. said:
The audacity of these people is truly beyond belief.
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maureenjenner said:
The truth hurts, especially when pride takes a knock from those with the authority to wield the hatpin that pricks the bubble.
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maureenjenner said:
Reblogged this on Musings of a Penpusher and commented:
The truth hurts, especially when pride takes a knock from those with the authority to wield the hatpin that pricks the bubble.
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