UK: Social Workers taking babies to meet adoption targets?

Question

http://www.adoptionuk.org/view_news.asp?id=632

What do you think of this?

When I told my health visitor we were struggling financially last year (my son was 6 months old and my other half had lost his job) she offered me the "support" of Social Services. I only saw them once and hated them, they spoke to me as if I was somehow mentally deficient. I told them I wanted nothing more to do with them and their "support" and as they could see there was no grounds for them to be concerned about my son, they left it at that. My other half found another job 4 weeks later and we're now doing just fine.

Afterwards I started reading these terrible stories that Social Services in the UK are targetting disadvantaged families with babies to meet the demand of infertile middle classers desperate to get their hands on a baby to adopt and meet their "adoption targets". I was absolutely furious!!

Do you think people will trust Social Services after this?

Answer 1

Sorry but in the UK that is not the truth. That would not be allowed.

They do seem to be very obnoxious though and I hate them with a vengeance.

They have let some little ones here slip though the net and these poor little innocents have been so mistreated by so called parents/guardians they have died. There have been enquiries, but of course, we do not ever hear of the outcome.

But adoption targets NO.

Answer 2

This was exposed and adoption targets were eliminated in April I think

It was intended to reduce the number of children in foster care but ended up with more adoptable infants being taken without due cause from vulnerable parents to meet the quotas and collect the cash incentives

I'm so happy this has been nipped in the bud, but not before alot of families have been unnecessarily ripped apart.  

I suspect alot of ladies suffering will postnatal depression will no longer seek help for fear of losing their babies, just as so many have done in this corrupt process.

Things are much much worse in the USA - at least the UK doesn't have the wheeling and dealing 'baby business' like they do there.   Adoption should always be a social service for children.  Nothing else.  I'm so glad you didn't become a victim.

Answer 3

I never have trusted Social Services! I have seen to many kids go back to awful parents just to be taken away again. It was obvious that the parents were still unfit by the way they acted and the things they did.

There are to many times I have watched children be taken away from wonderful parents and kept away from them, and later adopted out. And I have seen to many children walk right back into the horrible living arrangements that they were taken away from to begin with.  

I hate how they are working and they really need to get their c**p straight. I am talking about the U.S.'s social services by the way.

Answer 4

I guess what its going to come down to is infertile couples being prohibited adopting. Its sick and unethical that these people don't realize they are the biggest reason kids are now considered a commodity.  

Jesus took away their right to have children now the govt is going to have to do it. MEMEMEME.

Answer 5

Stories like this send chills up my spine.  My extended family would have to be on the brink of starvation before we would trust social services to "help"- help themselves to our babies, that is, so they can cash in on the government placement bonuses.

When my daughter was completing her college degree as a single mother, she refused to have anything to do with social services.  Our county found out that she was a single mom when she gave birth to a healthy white infant.  They started harassing her right away and tried to keep her baby away from her at the hospital.  No drinking, no drugs, a highly supportive extended family, and zero interest in adoption, but she had a highly desirable commodity so she was targeted by the county and a nurse (sniffing around for a friend).  Fortunately, she saw a friend lose her baby through an adoption scam so she knew to fight back.  They still send her a letter every year based on her income tax return.  It seems that the IRS releases the names of low-income families to county social services.

We sure don't trust them - they are vile people in our county.  Accepting help from them is like selling your soul to the devil.

Answer 6

My friends in Trackers International have been making this problem known for some time now, and I am glad that it is changing somewhat there.  

This is the problem when you have "desperate" infertile people, secrecy, lies, and money in the mix.  The push is on for more domestic adoptable babies, as the foreign countries close down on exporting their futures by selling their babies.  Then people begin to look closer to home and demand that something be done.  If there is money in it, you can bet that it will happen.  

I am sorry that you had to go thru that distasteful time, but you are right, you were lucky to escape with your family intact, from what I have heard.

Answer 7

They took my little baby cousin a few months ago about 6 hours after he was born. My aunt would have been a good enough mum.They didn't even a court letter or anything to say they could take him. My aunt is now taking them to court for taking her son.

I do not think people should trust social services! If I ever get a social worker (hope to god I do not and never will) I will probably tell them where to go!

Answer 8

Dear Lady Moon,

This is a horrendous and corrupt practice and is, unfortunately, RAMPANT in the US.

There is a TREMENDOUS distrust of DSS and CPS here. My next door neighbor was afraid to talk to me for the first six months I lived in my neighborhood because she heard I was a GAL!!! She is a wonderful mother who almost lost her children because she asked for TANF when her son was diagnosed with epilepsy at the same time her husband was laid off! We are now very good friends.

I have seen children returned to abusive homes muliple times because they were considered "unadoptable" and seen struggling families with GOOD parents lose their children through deceptive and underhanded practices because their children WERE "adoptable". (This is one of the reasons I needed a haiatus.)

Part of the problem are the federal placement incentives. (I find it appaling that different children have different "values" and therefore different "awards" to DSS a completed placement.There should NEVER be a monetary reward for completing an adoption - it causes children to become a product to "sell" rather than PEOPLE to help.