LONDON —
Activists have welcomed a call for the
UK government to apologies for making
unmarried mothers give up their babies decades ago, but warn that “forced
adoption” is still rife today.
اضافة اعلان
A parliamentary committee has said some 185,000 children were taken away
for adoption between 1949 and 1976 in England and Wales, and urged an official
apology.
Anne Neale, from
the campaign group Legal Action for Women, welcomed any such admission as “long
overdue”.
But she said the
committee had “refused” to examine cases of mothers being forced to give up
their children today despite having done nothing wrong.
Activists say
the law’s singular focus on the well-being of the child has led to thousands of
children being taken away from parents, even without evidence of any abuse.
Often it is
because their mothers have suffered from
mental health issues or domestic
violence.
Becca, 29, said
her two young children were taken away from her after she fled a violent
relationship.
“It’s crucifying
me. It’s a life sentence,” she said.
‘Punished for being
abused’
Sarah, 32, from Fife, north of
Edinburgh, also lost her children after
leaving a violent relationship. She attempted suicide three times.
“I’m grieving.
It’s that craving to hold them, and be a mum, and you can’t. It’s the worst
feeling ever,” she said.
“They took
everything off me: books, birth certificates. I’ve got loads of photos, that’s
all I’ve got left,” she added.
“It’s like I’m
being punished for being abused.”
Over the last
four years, between 1,210 and 1,840 children have been adopted each year without
consent in the UK, government statistics show.
Many other
European countries do not record the proportion of adoptions that occur without
parental agreement, but figures do show that adoption rates are higher in the
UK than in other similar countries.
Twice as many
children have been adopted in the UK than in Germany over the last 20 years,
according to official statistics.
During that same
period, seven times more children found new parents in the UK than in France.
No chance to grieve
The law states that a judge only needs to believe in a risk of future
harm to approve a child’s removal, rather than be presented with evidence of
abuse or neglect.
Activists say
this so-called “crystal ball” method gives authorities huge scope to remove
children.
At worst, it
discourages struggling mothers from seeking help for fear of having their
babies taken away.
“Lots of people
say that this can’t be right, it’s Orwellian,” said Maggie Mellon, a former
vice-chair of the British Association of Social Workers.
“It’s like a
death” for mothers, she said.
“But they don’t
have the possibility of grieving. They have lost them forever, but they’ve got
no grave.”
Mothers who have
already lost children have a high chance of having future children taken away,
and figures show newborn adoptions are on the rise.
Since 2008, more
than 24,000 children in England alone have been taken into care within their
first week of life.
Around half of
those go on to be adopted, research from the University of Central Lancashire
and the University of Huddersfield shows.
After losing her
two eldest children following a violent relationship, Becca says she was forced
to give up another two. She is now fighting against their adoption.
She says she
fled to Germany when she became pregnant with her fifth child, but British
social services contacted the German authorities and her daughter was removed
too.
“I dream about
them,” the young mother, who spent much of her own childhood in the care
system.
“It’s too hard
to have photographs around, but I’ve got clothes, a blanket and a dummy.”
Psychiatric
assessments
Mothers say the judicial system is loaded against them, and they are
often ill-equipped to fight for their offspring, being at a low ebb in their
lives or having just given birth.
Sue O’Callaghan,
who detailed her fight to keep her children in her book “Taken”, said the
authorities gave too much weight to psychiatric assessments.
Sarah, the
mother from Fife, said her eldest son became hysterical during one supervised
meeting.
“I started
crying. And that was it, they said ‘Sarah is an emotional wreck’,” she said.
She was no longer allowed contact.
Social worker
Rob Tyrell said decision makers like him struggled to strike a balance between
legal obligations and keeping families together.
“When there are
factors influencing parenting like drugs, domestic abuse, mental health or
learning disability — within that, we have to consider the impacts of the
current and future risks on the child,” he said.
Poverty
Kellie, another mother, had three children removed but was able to keep
her youngest two.
She warned that
“forced adoptions” were a huge grievance, especially in poorer areas.
“The community
saved me from putting myself under a bus,” she said.
“Everybody is so
frustrated. We’re all walking time bombs.”
Rights
campaigner Neale said dirty clothes or lack of food were often equated with
neglect, instead of a sign of growing poverty.
She called for
resources to help struggling mothers to better provide for their children.
Mellon, the social
worker, called for action now instead of future apologies.
“I’m fed up of
shouting about things at the time and then having to wait 30 years” for
justice.
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