HQ of City of Edinburgh Council
Now there's a headline of which the Daily Mail would be proud!
I began calling Social Services 'the SS' a while after I left an organisation where we came into contact with them a lot in London. While obviously there were then and there remain now many exceptions to the rule, Social Services are inherently middle class, highly judgmental and often brutish, ill-mannered bureaucrats, unable to look upon people's poverty or misery without looking down on them patronisingly, and who have an uncanny knack of ensuring that all sensitive issues relating to families are tackled in the only way they know how: with a pen, a sheet of paper and some boxes to tick.
Ultimately, the families we worked with said that it wasn't just the fact that Social Services had taken their children away and put them into care, adopted them out, or put them into middle class foster homes because they were deemed to have been neglectful - even though they tried their hardest in excruciating poverty - it was the total lack of respect from the Social Services they encountered. Respect...a small thing but highly valuable at any time and really rather necessary if you are going to dedicate your life to working with poor families. I don't think they ever thought of running a training course in it in the Social Services diploma.
The Telegraph runs a story today about how Social Services in Edinburgh have removed two young children from the care of their grandparents only for them to be adopted by a homosexual couple. The article, without sensationalism, claims that, 'The five-year-old boy and his four-year-old sister were being looked after by their grandparents because their mother, a recovering drug addict, was not considered capable. But social workers stepped in after allegedly deciding that the couple, who are aged 59 and 46, were "too old" to look after the children. They were allegedly stripped of their carer's rights and informed they would be barred from seeing the children altogether unless they agreed to the same-sex adoption.'
The article continues, 'The distraught grandfather said: "It breaks my heart to think that our grandchildren are being forced to grow up in an environment without a mother-figure. We are not prejudiced, but I defy anyone to explain to us how this can be in their best interests. The ideal for any child is to have a loving father and a loving mother in their lives."
There is nothing controversial about grandparents wanting the best for their grandchildren, yet, we are living in an age in which this view is seen as a new variant of criminal insanity. Regardless of the plain and simple fact that children should not be exposed to the homosexual lifestyle and should be protected from such an adult issue while they still have their innocence, the SS are clearly showing brazen disregard both for the love and commitment shown by the grandparents in their duty to the children and their heartfelt wishes for the best interests of the children being removed from them unjustly.
The article continues, 'The grandfather is a farmhand who has angina while his wife is receiving medication for diabetes. The children have been in foster care for two years while their grandparents battled the social services department in court. However, the cost of legal bills forced them to drop the case and relinquish their rights. The grandparents reluctantly agreed to adoption, provided the children were found a "loving mother and father".' They then learned that the children would be given to a gay couple and are quite understandably aggrieved. Yet, 'when he protested to social workers, the grandfather alleges he was told: "You can either accept it and there's a chance you'll see the children twice a year, or you can take that stance and never see them again."'
What right do the Social Services have to storm in and remove people's children when they are deemed unfit by their standards? I know there have been some tragic cases where they have not acted but this does not appear to be a case of abuse! What right do Social Services have to hand the children over to a gay couple against the wishes of the blood family?! What right do Social Services have to then use the children as pawns in a bullying and threatening fashion in order to maximise their quota for their annual report to the Government on how many times they have stripped families of their rights and pleased the gay community?! What right do they have to stop the grandparents even having contact with the children?! Since when did the State become the natural parent? They don't have any right do it at all! But then, that's why I always call them the SS nowadays...
1 comment:
What a truly tragic and sad story. I cant believe the Social Services can actually dictate that the grandparents can only see the children twice a year. This makes me really angry. It appears that the Social Services have gone rapidly downhill in recent years. You hear so many terrible stories in the media these days. In my experience, some 20- odd years ago, when I was a teenager, it was a different story. I had to see a social worker, as my mother became very violent to me and my sister. The lady I saw, I have to say, was genuinely very caring, and concerned. In the end, we went to live with our grandmother. It took us years to forgive my mother, who eventually admitted how wrong she was in the way we were treated, but in recent years, we have all had some happy times together. I will pray for the grandparents and children, and also the Social Services.
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