In this story, a couple in the UK made the grave error of taking one of their children to the doctor.  He had leg fractures due to a rare form of scurvy.  But the doctor misdiagnosed the condition as arising from parental abuse.

And presto! The child and his two siblings were taken from the home and placed with adoptive parents.  That was four years ago.  The courts have long since realized the mistake, but it's too late.  The children have "bonded" with their new parents and that is the end of that.

To avoid the same thing happening to their fourth child, Mark and Nicky Webster fled to Ireland.

So in addition to mothers being able at any time to deprive fathers of their children, it looks like the state can too, and permanently.  It doesn't matter that no abuse occurred.

And of course it's all for the benefit of the children.  Why would being shanghaied from their homes and parents and placed in another home with strangers affect them?  The great irony of course is that's precisely the reason given for why they can't be returned to the rightful parents - it would be too upsetting to them.  How being reunited with familiar parents could be as upsetting to a child as being placed with strangers is one I don't understand.

The proverbial bottom line is that it's OK to throw children's lives into chaos if all you're doing is taking them from their parents.  But if you want to return them, well, that's a different matter entirely.

That makes sense, doesn't it?

Thanks to "Mister-M" for the heads-up.

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 21st, 2009 at 8:03 pm and is filed under Family Law, Children's Rights, Child Protective Services/Child Welfare System, False Accusations, Adoption, Child Abuse. You can trackback from your own site.