A survey led by the Directors of Social Services West Midlands (ADASS) and Birmingham University, and funded by the NHS, is exploring the ways in which support services and government bodies place blame on parents of autistic children.

The details for the survey were tweeted by Dr Jason Schaub, a lecturer in social work at Birmingham university, on 29 March.

The survey is part of a wider autism and parental blame research project, led by the above organisations and also funded by the NHS, which aims to improve social work practice, and to “ensure families feel heard and understood when they look for help,” according to Schaub’s tweet.

The introduction to the survey, which is 11 pages long, says, “This study seeks to understand how parents of autistic children experience parental blame when they approach health, education, and care services for support.”

The researchers are looking to speak with parents in the UK of both children and young people, who are autistic (both diagnosed and undiagnosed).

The term “parents” is inclusive of: foster carers, kinship carers, special guardians, adoptive parents, carers and family members with key responsibility of autistic (both diagnosed and undiagnosed) children and young people.

The researchers suggest it will take parents around 15 minutes to complete the survey. The team has acknowledged that the survey may cause some parents to feel anxious or to experience negative emotions and has promised to provide a list of resources and organisations that offer support, at the end of the survey and following the interview part of the research.

Parents with questions or queries about the survey can reach out to the team by emailing Debbie or Laura:

debbie.hollingworth@wm-adass.org

laura.ferguson@wm-adass.org

There is a QR code in the featured image below that parents can zap to access the survey, but which can also be found here.

A participant information sheet for the survey can be accessed here.

The survey closes on 1 May, 2023.

These are the latest child welfare items that should be right on your radar:

• Rewarded for failing children: How social worker bosses linked to scandals have repeatedly bounced back into similar six-figure council jobs
• Research brief: Child Support Collection (Domestic Abuse) Bill
• CQC rates Taplow Manor mental health service for children inadequate

Many thanks to Dana for sharing the first item with us.

Britain’s first parent-led Truth Commission looking at children’s social care is holding its next monthly Zoom meeting today, Tuesday 28 March, from 5pm to 6pm.

Attendees can get involved with the work of the commission and ask its members questions about the commission during these calls. As always we’d love you to join us.

This month we’ll be inviting attendees to take part in a Mentimeter session: interactive software which allows guests to share their views about a topic using one word or sentence. That data is then collected by the software in real time, so attendees can see in seconds emerging patterns and trends.

We will also be unveiling our latest project and sharing information about our human rights survey, which received several hundred responses.

During the event you can ask the commission’s lead Michele Simmons, and commission team members Simon Haworth and Natasha Phillips (Researching Reform) questions about the commission’s current projects and share your feedback and suggestions.

We regret that we can’t discuss attendees’ individual cases, as reporting restrictions currently prevent third parties like commissions from talking about cases in a public setting, but we would very much encourage those present to tell the commission how they feel and what they think about the child protection system and the family courts.

Families and children in need of immediate help can access the free support services on your “My Support” page on the commission’s website.

The call will take place today from 5pm to 6pm on Zoom. You can email to attend any time until 5pm.

If you would like to attend the event, please email the team at truthcommissionuk@gmail.com. The team will also give you information about how to access the conference.

Please confirm you would like to attend the event in your message, and let us know if you are a care-experienced child or parent, social care stakeholder, government affiliate, academic, journalist or member of the public.

We look forward to welcoming you.

Additional links:

• Commission website
• Current available guides (Free to read)
• Free Booklet: Children and their families have rights
• Families’ testimonials

Welcome to another week.

Dino Nocivelli, a lawyer and partner at Leigh Day, a solicitors’ firm representing child abuse survivors and victims of abuse, has written a post on the firm’s website calling for criminal sentences to reflect the abuse of trust children and families experience when they are maltreated by social workers.

Families who have been abused, discriminated against and threatened by social workers have discussed the need for better criminal and civil penalties in recent years, to deal with the harm this behaviour causes and to ensure that the sector understands this kind of behaviour will not be tolerated.

Additionally, child protection cases published by England’s judiciary about social workers deliberately lying to the courts to engineer the removal of children from fit and loving parents show that offending social workers rarely face disciplinary action or jail time and highlight the urgent need to reform this area.

Dino mentions a series of cases where children were abused by social workers and calls on councils to voluntarily provide apologies to survivors and offer them therapeutic and financial support.

His post is reproduced in full below, and can be accessed on Leigh Day’s blog here:

A social worker should become involved in a child’s life when a child is suffering or is at risk of suffering harm and dependent on the level of this harm a child may need to be taken into care to be looked after.  This level of interference by the State into the life of a private individual is justified by the level of harm that is in place and the risk to a child’s life.

As in other areas of society however, wherever an adult has been given a position of trust and power, there is a risk that this position will be abused and sadly it is no different when it involves social workers.  
 
The most recent case involving child abuse by a social worker is Inderjit Kumar who was a social worker in Coventry.
 
Kumar has recently been convicted of three counts of indecent assault and two counts of cruelty to a child, and has received a seven-year prison sentence.  Setting aside the depravity of the actual assaults inflicted by Kumar, the fact that he abused his position of trust as a social worker when these children were so vulnerable and in need of care and support compounds the impact of the abuse on his victims.
 
Sadly, this is not an isolated event and below are some others who have abused children through their positions as social workers and recently been convicted of the same:
 
• Walsall – Moses Reid 
• Nuneaton – Robert Simms, 24-year prison sentence for rape and sexual assault
• Nottingham – Andris Logins, 20 year prison sentence for rape
• Nottingham – Myriam Bamkin, 2.5 year prison sentence for indecent assault 
• Nottingham – Dean Gathercole, 19-year prison sentence for rape and indecent assault 
• Cornwall – Chetin Hussyin, 14-year prison sentence for buggery and indecent assault 
• Hereford – Michelle Baxter, 26 months for sex with someone in her care
• Worcester – David Corrick, 13 years for buggery and sexual assault 
• Rochdale – James Peter Gavin, 17-year prison sentence for child abuse 
 
 
It is important that that all survivors of abuse feel able to disclose their abuse and that social workers who abuse should receive an increased criminal punishment for abusing their position of trust. 
 
I hope that councils will voluntarily step up to provide substantive apologies to the survivors and to also offer therapeutic and financial support although from my experience this does not happen. Instead it is left to survivors to try and deal with the impact of the abuse and also of the council’s failings.

Britain’s first parent-led Truth Commission looking at children’s social care is holding its next monthly Zoom meeting on Tuesday 28 March, from 5pm to 6pm.

Attendees can get involved with the work of the commission and ask its members questions about the commission during these calls. As always we’d love you to join us.

This month we’ll be inviting attendees to take part in a Mentimeter session: interactive software which allows guests to share their views about a topic using one word or sentence. That data is then collected by the software in real time, so attendees can see in seconds emerging patterns and trends.

We will also be unveiling our latest project and sharing information about our human rights survey, which received several hundred responses.

During the event you can ask the commission’s lead Michele Simmons, and commission team members Simon Haworth and Natasha Phillips (Researching Reform) questions about the commission’s current projects and share your feedback and suggestions.

We regret that we can’t discuss attendees’ individual cases, as reporting restrictions currently prevent third parties like commissions from talking about cases in a public setting, but we would very much encourage those present to tell the commission how they feel and what they think about the child protection system and the family courts.

Families and children in need of immediate help can access the free support services on your “My Support” page on the commission’s website.

The call will take place on Tuesday March 28, from 5pm to 6pm on Zoom. You can email to attend any time until 5pm.

If you would like to attend the event, please email the team at truthcommissionuk@gmail.com. The team will also give you information about how to access the conference.

Please confirm you would like to attend the event in your message, and let us know if you are a care-experienced child or parent, social care stakeholder, government affiliate, academic, journalist or member of the public.

We look forward to welcoming you.

Additional links:

• Commission website
• Current available guides (Free to read)
• Free Booklet: Children and their families have rights
• Families’ testimonials

These are the latest children’s state care items that should be right on your radar:

• Government bans unregulated accommodation for young people in care
• Cheshire East to set up council-run children’s homes
• Plans for £6.4 million children’s home and ‘staying-close’ flats in Gloucester to be approved

Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon formally apologised for the country’s forced adoption practices which took place in the twentieth century, at the Scottish Parliament on Wednesday. She also announced the launch of a new study, with the results to be published in the Summer, offering ways to improve support for people affected by the policy and to help reunite those impacted with their natural family.

The apology was welcomed by survivors and victims of the cruel and more than likely illegal policy, which enabled the state to take children away from their mothers without their consent, by claiming that being unmarried made them unfit to parent.

Wales and Ireland have previously apologised for their forced and illegal adoption policies. In January, Wales’ Deputy Minister for Social Services Julie Morgan made a personal apology to everyone affected by adoption practices in the twentieth century. Ireland’s Children’s Minister Roderic O’Gorman made an official apology in 2022 to the more than 20,000 people who had been illegally adopted in the country, a practice which involved forced adoption.

However, England’s government has repeatedly refused to apologise for its forced adoption policy within the same time period.

Instead, it has claimed that forced adoption practices in the twentieth century are completely separate to the forced adoption policy in place in Britain today, and that reforms have been made to ensure children are at the heart of every child welfare decision.

Despite this claim, the current system routinely discriminates against parents from ethnic and minority backgrounds or those living under the poverty line, leading to the illegal removal of their children, much in the same way it penalised unmarried pregnant women in the twentieth century.

Sturgeon begins her speech by saying, “The issuing of a formal apology is an action that governments reserve as a response to the worst injustices in our history. Without doubt, the adoption practices that prevailed in this country – for decades, during the twentieth century – fit that description.”

She then goes on to mention several mothers who lost their children, some of whom campaigned for the apology.

“In most cases, their mothers were young or unmarried.   They were stigmatised as a result.  And they were forced, or coerced, into the adoption process – by charities, churches, health professionals, or social services,” Sturgeon said.

“Some mothers suffered physical mistreatment or abuse.  Some were denied appropriate healthcare.  Up until the early 1970s, mothers in some cases were given Stilbestrol – a drug that dried up their breast milk, and which is potentially carcinogenic. Virtually all of the mothers were made to feel worthless,” Sturgeon added. “Consistently, mothers were lied to about the adoption process. They were given no information about what was happening.  When they did object, they were bullied or ignored.”

This treatment will ring true for many mothers currently going through the child protection system in England, as an estimated 90% of all adoption cases are involuntary, or forced by the UK government, which continues to sanction non-concensual adoption policies.

The speech is worth a read in full.

Additional links:

• Scotland: Non recent adoption practices: A formal apology (press release with links and further information)
• Wales: Personal apology to those affected by non recent adoption practices (press release)
• Ireland: Apology to People affected by Illegal Birth Registration (press release)
• England: Government refuses to apologise for non-recent forced adoption following call by independent human rights committee
• Why The British Government Won’t Apologise For Forced Adoption

Disabled mothers, working-class mothers and mothers of colour will talk about the discrimination and hostility they faced by social workers and family law professionals at an event taking place on Thursday 23rd March, 2023.

The conference, which will be held in-person and online, is a Women’s History Month event organised with the University of East Anglia Students’ Union and hosted by the Disabled Mothers’ Rights campaign. The event will take place on 23rd March at 6 PM UK time.

The press release for the event said:

The Disabled Mothers’ Rights Campaign, together with the Support Not Separation (SNS) coalition, worked with Channel 5 News for a feature and research about disabled parents, mostly mothers.  It was broadcast on 25 January 2023. 

We will watch these videos:

• Channel 5 News – Disabled mothers’ struggle against discrimination (10 mins)
• Fighting forced adoption — Jean Eveleigh and Tye aged 19 (47 mins) video

Jean and her child Tye gave an emotional interview about the forced adoption they suffered.  They reunited after 17 years apart. Jean says: “Time was stolen from us.”  Tye says: “I could have had her growing up.  I could have had someone that fought for me relentlessly.  And I didn’t get that.  And I should have.” 

There will also be a live Q&A on Zoom with the Disabled Mothers’ Rights Campaign and Support Not Separation.

To attend the event at the university, you will need to go to: Room 6, Union House, University of East Anglia campus, Norwich NR4 7TJ  Book here — student login needed. Map

The Zoom link for those who wish to attend online can be accessed here: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87950019435?pwd=cmRUVW13anlPV3RLYVBYZXVYMXNNQT09

Meeting ID: 879 5001 9435

Passcode: 986425

Many thanks to SNS for sharing this event with Researching Reform.

A film inspired by a real-life family law case in which an immigrant mother from India had her children removed by Norway’s child protection services has gone viral on the internet.

The film, which is titled, “Mrs Chatterjee Vs Norway”, is believed to be based on the 2011 case of Sagarika Chakraborty, a mother who fought the Norwegian child protection system to try to get her children back, after a court in Norway ruled the children should be taken into foster care.

There’s a lot of content online about the case, some of which alleges that social workers in Norway never gave Chakraborty an explanation as to why her son and daughter were taken from her, that social workers were racially abusive towards her, and used irrational and absurd reasoning to suggest she was a bad parent.

The film, which was released on 17 March, has drawn criticism from Norway’s Ambassador to India, calling the story factually inaccurate. You can watch the real-life Mrs Chatterjee (Sagarika Chakraborty) counter the claim in this recent interview on news outlet The Quint’s YouTube channel.

Norway’s child protection system has caused consternation among international child welfare bodies and human rights experts. In 2005, the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child expressed concern “at the number of children removed from families” in Norway and placed in foster care. The Committee reminded Norway that it had a duty to protect people’s human right to a family life with their natural relatives and only place children in care as a last resort, and where it was genuinely in the best interests of the child.

Another case eight years after Chakraborty’s in Norway also made the headlines and broke new ground. In 2019, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that a child services agency had breached a mother and her son’s rights by forcibly removing her son and giving him to a foster family, several years after he was removed from her custody as a newborn.

The grand chamber of the European Court of Human Rights held that Norway’s Barnevernet child services agency had violated Trude Lobben and her son’s rights to family life, and had not carried out adequate investigations into the mother’s parenting skills or provided adequate evidence to bolster its claim that the child was vulnerable, and that adoption was in his best interest.

Chakraborty’s — and Lobben’s — experiences will resonate with families in the UK who have been involved with Britain’s child protective services, as both countries share many historic and current similarities in the way their child protection processes run.

The film itself has done very well at the box office in India, and includes a raft of big names from Indian cinema, including actress Rani Mukerji.

Additional links:

• Mrs Chatterjee vs Norway: The real story behind an Indian mother’s fight
• Mrs. Chatterjee Vs Norway Official Trailer, 17th March 2023
• Man, Woman, Child….and the State? Lessons from the True Story behind Mrs Chatterjee vs Norway

Many thanks to Vics North East for nudging us to do a post on this film, and for the second and third links in the list above.

Welcome to another week.

These are the latest forced adoption stories that should be right on your radar:

• US Congressman: Scotland will lead world on forced adoption
• Britain Forced adoptions apology: Another Government failure
• 10th Anniversary of Australia’s National Apology for Forced Adoptions