The Amateur Journalism Club for Beginners and Intermediates at Brighton's notoriously nasty newspaper, The Argus, have today warned Brightonians to be on red alert for parental neglect of children, claiming sensationally (though from quite where the 'Department for the Destruction of Children, Families and Schools' get their ghoullish statistics is a mystery) that 'One in ten Sussex children are suffering from neglect'.
According to those rigorous journalists at The Argus, neither tens, nor hundreds but thousands of children in the region are left alone to play with only a box of matches and a gallon of lighter fuel while their evil parents go down the pub to sing 'Midnight Train to Georgia'. Personally, I took the black banner headline, on the now customary Argus A-board, as confirmation that Social Services need fresh children for eager childless adopters, or perhaps just fancy sending more youngsters to be abused near daily in the care system, which was why I was pleasantly surprised this evening by The Times, which reports that a top, if not the top Family Court Judge in the UK has slammed Social Services for their 'arrogance'. For a not at all outlandish example of this arrogance, click the link for a story about a two year-old boy was taken from Paul and Lisa Hessey late last year (pictured above left) after they refused to follow a doctors’orders and feed him junk food.
Having worked in the past with and met recently, families and individuals who have had their children taken into care by Social Services, often totally unjustly, I know that this Family Court Judge is absolutely on the mark about this matter and should be praised for his bravery in speaking out against an arm of the State with near total contempt and disregard for the rights of both children and families in the UK.
The Times reports...
Social workers have been criticised as “arrogant and enthusiastic removers of children from their parents” by the judge who takes charge of the family courts today.
Lord Justice Wall said that the determination of some social workers to place children in an “unsatisfactory care system” away from their families was “quite shocking”.
In a separate case, on which Sir Nicholas Wall also sat, Lord Justice Aikens described the actions of social workers in Devon as “more like Stalin’s Russia or Mao’s China than the West of England”.
Thank God there are some Family Court Judges out there who can see the disasterous effect of Social Services upon the rights and dignity of families and individuals in the UK, as well as the social cohesion of the country as a whole. Interestingly, the same article notes that...
'Lord Justice Wall will be sworn in today as the president of the High Court’s Family Division. Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary, originally challenged his appointment. Lord Justice Wall has been an outspoken critic of some government policies, including the funding of family courts.'
Jack Straw, the Injustice Secretary, that is. Like most key members of the Labour Government nowadays, Jack Straw wouldn't know justice if it came along, gave him a nod, a wink and an odd hand gesture and got let off that murder charge of an innocent Brazillian entirely.
Some good articles on your blog recently, Loz; haven't commented recently but I thought I'd give the thumbs up to this one. I hope things will change under this judge.
ReplyDelete"Notoriously nasty newspaper,"--very good. Good article in toto, too.
ReplyDelete