Children taken from their parents to meet "Adoption Targets"?

Question

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6961521.stm

What do you think of this?

Havin had a very small amount of dealings with Social "Services" myself I can only say I totally beleive it. How dare they behave in such a crass and, frankly, evil manner!

Answer 1

I think it's sick and I really do believe it goes on. As far as I'm concerned, if children have been adopted illegally, they should be returned to their parents. No question. I saw a couple on This morning some weeks ago. Their children had been taken from them as some smart *** "thought" they'd been abused. Instead of taking the time to look into this matter, the children were taken from the couple and adopted  in a very short space of time. I was crying my eyes out watching the programme.  It's a bloody disgrace.

Answer 2

Wow, it's hard to believe it's so easy to take kids away in the UK.  Here in the US we have the opposite problem.  It takes an act of God to get kids away from the parents in many cases, and we end up with horrid cases of child abuse because of it.  Just recently they found an ADOPTIVE mother that so severely tortured a 2-year-old that the child died.  Just the year before she'd been turned into child services, but they hadn't been able to prove anything....  and that's only the most recent case I can think of.

I'm shocked that they've been able to get ANY children away from parents in the first month.  That's crazy!  Here, if mothers want to give up infants for adoption, there are agencies clamoring to get at her, I don't think the state gets many at all.

Answer 3

Disgusting.  I have no doubt that it is true.

Infants are targeted for adoption in the US as well, however, it is done privately through hospital personnel and OB offices.  Adoptive parents find a nurse, office receptionist, or doctor who comes into contact with single mothers and colludes with them to try to convince the mother to give up her child because she is "unfit" to raise a child on her own.  Hospital nurses sometimes call SWs to harass single mothers who have given birth.  Adoptive parents call contact with OB offices and hospitals "networking".  These "networking" tips are on several adoption WEB sites.

Answer 4

I have worked around (not for) Social Services for many years.  My experience is mostly the opposite.  I see that the agency tries beyond sense, to reunite biological families, or keep them together even when it is not always in the best interest of the child.

Adoptions are not in the overall scheme of things for this huge agency.  They are not equipped for it and do not have time for them.  And it is thought by many that adoptions will soon be contracted out to private agencies because Social Services does not have the time, expertise or staff for it.

Is it possible that specific agencies/states have "Adoption Targets"?  Sure.  And "Reunification Targets" and "Family Preservation Targets", too!

If your children were removed due to Domestic Violence, then perhaps you need to concentrate on the reason the children were removed, not the agency who removed them.

Answer 5

i am sorry to hear about your currant situation sounds stressful i also have had dealings with social services for the past 18 years i am 24 now from being in foster care and also haveing serious depression after having my daughter

my daughter was thankfully never in care (i say that due to personnel experience of the care system) i found that because i rang social services and asked for help they do not look down their noses at me at all and they have bin very helpfull but when i was in care it was a different story i was a problem child and they looked down their noses at me and talked to me like i was a 2 year old and stuff

it all just depends on the social worker and what they are like i do though believe that your opening statemeant may may mot be true it happened to a friend of mine in saying that i dont no the whole story

i voluntary gave my son up for adoption cause i have no family around me and hardly any friends to support me so irt is just basicly me and my daughter and that is it i see my family xmas day and that is it

i do no that they are changing the rules and they just cannot go into peoples homes anymore and lift children its a pity but true

what i will say is that there is no smoke without fire u have met some terrible parents and some good ones ovef the years and that was just the foster parents

Answer 6

That is just wrong!!!

Answer 7

As an adoptive mom, I can speak from experience on this one.  YES!  It does happen.

My son was born with a genetic disorder and removed from his bio-parents (by the state of NJ) for legitimate reasons.  He was placed in Kinship Care with his bio-grandparents.  The state of NJ told them that if they did not want to adopt him personally, they should try to find a family that would do a private adoption because of his medical disorder.  The bio-parents did not want to try to rehabilitate themselves to be parents.  The bio-grandparents felt that they were not at a point in their lives where they could raise a child due to health reasons and their ages, so they found us to proceed with a private adoption.

Halfway thru the process, the state intervened and tried to stop the adoption.  The social worker in NJ point blank looked at me and said "he is a caucasian infant and a hot commodity for the foster/adopt program here in NJ".  I was shocked.  Fortunately, the family court judge intervened on our behalf and removed the state from the picture, allowing us to proceed with the private adoption.  

That one comment by the social worker left a horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach.  But it got worse!

A year later, we learned that my son's bio-parents had given birth to a daughter and the state had removed her as well.  When we tried to find out if we could adopt her, we were denied any information about the child and we were told that she was in foster care for the purpose of adoption.  They would not allow us to become involved.  So, my son was basically denied access to having a full blood bio-sister adopted with him.  We wished we would have had the cash to fight with an attorney, but after going thru one adoption, and the death of my father-in-law, we simply weren't prepared emotionally or financially to fight the state.  It still breaks my heart.

So yes, it is sad, but I'm sure this happens, especially in the US.

Answer 8

I believe it completely. I have a very dear friend who lives in the UK. She is even now fighting to get her 16 month odl daughter back. She was taken over nothign but a phoen call from a pissed off friend. No PROOF of anything. THey got phoen call, walked in and took her, no questions asked. Complaints were things that even can be PROVEN to be false but shes still fighting. Dont they realize they are causing severe damage to these children?

Answer 9

It sure doesn't surprise me...  My best friend had twins at 19 and the hospital case workers tried to "convince" her to at least give up one. Mind you she was married with stable income and home and they still tried to force her. I have run into several people who don't feel I have the right to have children with my husband based on the sole fact that he is in a wheelchair due to military service. They'll do just about anything to get infants and toddlers into the adoption wheel just because it is so lucrative for the state.

Answer 10

I do not agree that is the case in the uk as well, adoption is a lengthy process and the children are nearly always fostered first before any decisions are made.

When babies are removed from parents at birth there is a very good reason for it.  The social works main aim is to keep families together and help parents rehabilitate to get their children back, but at the end of the day the childrens needs are foremost and just because a parent may want their child back that doesn not mean it is best for the child.

The majority of the people who's children end up adopted are bitter and would say anything rather than to admit that they were at fault and that is probably where the story has originated.

The amount of people who can not see they have an addiction, or fail to protect their children again and again or abuse or neglect them but cannot see that they ahve done wrong is very high.

It is always easier to blame someone else, at the end of the day if the parents did not have 'issues' they would be with their children. Social workers do not just hang about hospitals trying to convince parents to hand over their babies that is utter nonsense.

Answer 11

I can't say that is does not happen, but as a foster parent, I have not experienced it.  In fact, up to this point all of my foster children have been returned home and I have seen parents given many opportunities and a lot of help so that they could be reunited with their children.  Maybe I have just been involved with more ethical case workers though.  I am sure not all caseworkers are bad, but they can't all be good and honest either.  In any case, if this is acurate, that is very sad....

Answer 12

This is shocking, what next.  The social services should not be allowed in Taking away a baby at birth, and the mother has not even seen her child properly, how has she been unfit mother, she just gave birth.

Answer 13

I swear that if it was reported on tv that congress was being governed by little green men from Mars, gullible idiots all over the world would believe it.

Newsflash:  Tv programs, journalists and the media all lie.  Physical and psychiatric evidence of child abuse doesn't.

Answer 14

That is in England.  I don't think that it happens in the US.  Is anyone in England actively trying to stop this?

Answer 15

I am not buying it.  The reason the numbers have gone up has a lot to do with why they are being removed.  Meth is a big reason there is such an increase and most parents don't change there habits...........Also parents are being reported more frequent.  People are getting involved it is no longer "their family, their problem" children are finally being protected by teachers, neighbors, and even family.  Things that people use to turn their head is now being reported.  

85% of children that do go home after being in the system will reenter before age 18 (because parents fall off the wagon or coninue the abuse)

That is why kids are being adopted becasue parents are not being rehabilitaed.

Answer 16

The family law in the UK is very dark and sinister indeed.  The public have no idea what goes on as it is all done behind closed doors.  Time and time again, social services let down vulnerable children - sometimes it cost them their lives. And yet, on the other hand, they hit the easy targets - removing children from their parents unjustifiably. I remember watching the terrible case of a mother whose two children were taken into care and adopted - they suffered from a rare brittle bone disease which ran in the family but the authorities were convinced that the parents had hurt their children.  

My parents fostered children when I was young and of course, social services are closely involved with this.  I have often thought how I would like to do this to help kids in need - offer a child a safe place for a while but to be honest, the thought of dealing with social services frightens me.  What would happen to me if a child in my care hurt themselves?  It doesn't bear thinking about.