Child Protection or Child Trafficking for Anthony Douglas?

LS Palmer made this Freedom of Information request to Fife Council This request has been closed to new correspondence. Contact us if you think it should be reopened.

The request was partially successful.

Dear Fife Council,

The standard letter from the Department of Education states:

"The law is clear: children should live with their parents wherever possible and, when necessary, families should be given extra support to help keep them together. In most cases, support from the local authority enables any concerns to be addressed and children remain with their families."

S17 of the Children Act places a duty on Children's Services to assist families in need.

Please could you provide a year by year breakdown since 2003 of how much of your budget has been allocated for assisting families in need and give general information as to what that budget is spent on.

Please could you further provide a year by year breakdown of how much of your budget is allocated to families subject to 'care proceedings'.

Please confirm you abide by the following laws:

1. All families subject to care proceedings have had the benefit of a Residential Family Assessment before the child's permanent removal in accordance with L (A Child) and H (A Child) [2007] EWCA Civ 213 which held:

"before removing children from their natural families and placing them for adoption with strangers the court should be astute to ensure that the case had been fully investigated and that all the relevant evidence necessary for the decision was in Place, Art 6 of the ECHR required it…..There would of course be cases in which a s38(6) assessment would be a waste of public funds: parents who had inflicted injuries on their child but had failed to acknowledge their responsibility or a woman who did not accept that a paedophile partner was a risk to the child"

2. All parents who are guilty of abusing/neglecting their children to the extent that nothing short of removal from the parents will protect the children from SIGNIFICANT HARM have been convicted of a criminal offence for abuse/neglect and have been referred to the Independent Safeguarding Authority.

Please provide a positive or negative affirmation in relation to the following statements:

3. That since removal of children from the parents no child in the care of the Local Authority has:
a. Suffered sexual abuse
b. Suffered physical abuse.
c. Suffered emotional abuse.
(In this respect data referring to convictions/complaints of misconduct of social workers/foster carers/care workers and statistics relating to child suicides/children running away would provide the relevant assertion as to whether or not children were suffering 'in care')

4. That since removal of the children from the parents no child in the care of the Local Authority has been used for medical testing or registered on any program by the NIHR, MRCN or any other medical research program without the explicit consent from the biological parent.

5. That since removal of the children from the parents the children have been raised in the same faith they would have been raised in if they had not been removed from their parents.

6. That no child has been returned to the care of the local authority post adoption.

7. That no child in the care of the Local Authority has been criminalised, ie gained a criminal record having not previously had a criminal record while in the care of their biological parents.

Yours faithfully,

LS Palmer

Fife Council

Thank you for contacting Fife Council. Your request has been forwarded to
the Freedom of Information Team for their attention and response.
Regards

Barbara Marshall
Customer Service Advisor

"Think Green" and only print this email if absolutely necessary

>>> LS Palmer <[FOI #58365 email]> 18/01/2011 15:32
>>>
Dear Fife Council,

The standard letter from the Department of Education states:

"The law is clear: children should live with their parents wherever
possible and, when necessary, families should be given extra
support to help keep them together. In most cases, support from the
local authority enables any concerns to be addressed and children
remain with their families."

S17 of the Children Act places a duty on Children's Services to
assist families in need.

Please could you provide a year by year breakdown since 2003 of how
much of your budget has been allocated for assisting families in
need and give general information as to what that budget is spent
on.

Please could you further provide a year by year breakdown of how
much of your budget is allocated to families subject to 'care
proceedings'.

Please confirm you abide by the following laws:

1. All families subject to care proceedings have had the benefit of
a Residential Family Assessment before the child's permanent
removal in accordance with L (A Child) and H (A Child) [2007] EWCA
Civ 213 which held:

"before removing children from their natural families and placing
them for adoption with strangers the court should be astute to
ensure that the case had been fully investigated and that all the
relevant evidence necessary for the decision was in Place, Art 6 of
the ECHR required it…..There would of course be cases in which a
s38(6) assessment would be a waste of public funds: parents who had
inflicted injuries on their child but had failed to acknowledge
their responsibility or a woman who did not accept that a
paedophile partner was a risk to the child"

2. All parents who are guilty of abusing/neglecting their children
to the extent that nothing short of removal from the parents will
protect the children from SIGNIFICANT HARM have been convicted of a
criminal offence for abuse/neglect and have been referred to the
Independent Safeguarding Authority.

Please provide a positive or negative affirmation in relation to
the following statements:

3. That since removal of children from the parents no child in the
care of the Local Authority has:
a. Suffered sexual abuse
b. Suffered physical abuse.
c. Suffered emotional abuse.
(In this respect data referring to convictions/complaints of
misconduct of social workers/foster carers/care workers and
statistics relating to child suicides/children running away would
provide the relevant assertion as to whether or not children were
suffering 'in care')

4. That since removal of the children from the parents no child in
the care of the Local Authority has been used for medical testing
or registered on any program by the NIHR, MRCN or any other medical
research program without the explicit consent from the biological
parent.

5. That since removal of the children from the parents the children
have been raised in the same faith they would have been raised in
if they had not been removed from their parents.

6. That no child has been returned to the care of the local
authority post adoption.

7. That no child in the care of the Local Authority has been
criminalised, ie gained a criminal record having not previously had
a criminal record while in the care of their biological parents.

Yours faithfully,

LS Palmer

show quoted sections

Theresa Ritchie, Fife Council

1 Attachment

Please find acknowledgement attached.

Thank you.

Theresa

Theresa Ritchie
Administration Assistant
Rothesay House

Tele: 08451 55 55 55, Ext 470681
Fax: 01592 583253

Social Work Service
5th Floor, North Wing
Rothesay House
Rothesay Place
GLENROTHES
KY7 5PQ

Extension Gateway 08451 55 55 55 when prompted enter 470681

"Think Green" and only print this email if absolutely necessary

show quoted sections

Theresa Ritchie, Fife Council

1 Attachment

Please find clarification letter attached.

Thank you

Theresa

Theresa Ritchie
Administration Assistant
Rothesay House

Tele: 08451 55 55 55, Ext 470681
Fax: 01592 583253

Social Work Service
5th Floor, North Wing
Rothesay House
Rothesay Place
GLENROTHES
KY7 5PQ

Extension Gateway 08451 55 55 55 when prompted enter 470681

"Think Green" and only print this email if absolutely necessary

show quoted sections

Dear Theresa Ritchie,

S17 of the Children Act outlines the duty to assist families in need. I believe the Scottish equivalent is S22 of their equivalent of the Children Act.

Yours sincerely,

LS Palmer

Theresa Ritchie, Fife Council

1 Attachment

Please find further clarification attached.

thank you

Theresa

Theresa Ritchie
Administration Assistant
Rothesay House

Tele: 08451 55 55 55, Ext 470681
Fax: 01592 583253

Social Work Service
5th Floor, North Wing
Rothesay House
Rothesay Place
GLENROTHES
KY7 5PQ

Extension Gateway 08451 55 55 55 when prompted enter 470681

"Think Green" and only print this email if absolutely necessary

show quoted sections

Dear Theresa Ritchie,

I confirm that I do mean SSSC rather than GSCC and the Police fiscal service.

Question 3 relates to children for which the Council have parental responsibility.

Yours sincerely,

LS Palmer

Theresa Ritchie, Fife Council

I am on annual leave and will return on Tuesday 1st February and will
respond to your email on my return.

If you require an urgent response - please contact Jean Smith on
444817..

If you are making a request for information under the Freedom of
Information Act, please redirect your email to [email address].

Thanks.

Theresa"Think Green" and only print this email if absolutely necessary

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Theresa Ritchie, Fife Council

1 Attachment

Please find response attached.

thank you

Theresa

Theresa Ritchie
Administration Assistant
Rothesay House

Tele: 08451 55 55 55, Ext 470681
Fax: 01592 583253

Social Work Service
5th Floor, North Wing
Rothesay House
Rothesay Place
GLENROTHES
KY7 5PQ

Extension Gateway 08451 55 55 55 when prompted enter 470681

"Think Green" and only print this email if absolutely necessary

show quoted sections