Child Protection or Child Trafficking for Anthony Douglas?

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

Hertsmere Borough Council did not have the information requested.

Dear Hertsmere Borough 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

foi, Hertsmere Borough Council

Dear Mr Palmer

I am writing to acknowledge your request for information received on 18
January 2011.

Your request is being considered and you will receive a response within
the statutory timescale of 20 working days as defined by the Freedom of
Information Act 2000 and/or Environmental Information Regulation 2005.

The Act/Regulations define a number of exemptions which may prevent
release of the information you have requested. There will be an assessment
of your request and if any of the exemption categories apply then the
information may be withheld. You will be informed if this is the case,
including your rights of appeal.

If the information you request contains reference to a third party then
they may be consulted prior to a decision being taken on whether or not to
release the information to you. You will be informed if this is the case.

If a fee is payable for this information then you will be informed prior
to any further action being taken. In this event the fee must be paid
before the information is processed and released. The 20 working day time
limit for the response is suspended until receipt of payment.

If you have any queries about the processing of your request then please
do not hesitate to contact me.

Further information about access to information can be obtained from
Hertsmere Borough Council or the Information Commissioner's Office.

Hertsmere Borough Council

Civic Offices

Elstree Way

Borehamwood

WD6 1WA

Telephone 020 8207 2277

[1]www.hertsmere.gov.uk

Information Commissioners Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

Telephone 01625 545700

[2]www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk

Please include the above FOI reference number on all correspondence
related to this request.

Thank you for your request.

Kind regards

Tom Jackson

Information Services

Tel: 020 8207 7821.

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foi, Hertsmere Borough Council

Dear Mr Palmer

I am writing in response to your request received by email on 18 January
2011 requesting information regarding child protection.

Your request has now been considered under the terms of the Freedom of
Information Act and we are able to respond as follows.

Your Request:

The standard letter from the Department of Education states:

"The law is clear: children should live with their parents wherever 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.

Our Response:

The County of Hertfordshire is governed under a two tier Local Authority
system. Under this arrangement, Hertfordshire County Council has
responsibility for Highways, Education, Libraries as well as Children,
Schools and Families.

For this reason the information you have requested in your request is held
by Hertfordshire County Council. The contact details are as follows:

Hertfordshire County Council
County Hall
Pegs Lane
Hertford SG13 8DQ

General Enquiries - 0300 123 4040

HCC FOI email address

[email address]

If you have any queries about the processing of your request then please
do not hesitate to contact me. Further information explaining the
Council's process for responding to information requests together with a
complaints/appeals procedure is available in our reception or via our
website at:

http://www.hertsmere.gov.uk/councildemoc...

The Information Commissioner oversees the application of the Freedom of
Information Act. You may contact the Information Commissioner at:

Information Commissioners Office

Wycliffe House, Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire SK9 5AF

Telephone: 01625 545700

Website: www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk

Please include the above reference number on all correspondence related to
this request.

Thank you for your request.

Kind regards

Tom Jackson

Information Services

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