Child Protection or Child Trafficking for Anthony Douglas?

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

The request was partially successful.

Dear Wandsworth 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

Freedom Of Information, Wandsworth Borough Council

Freedom of Information Act request -  2011/4226 - Child Trafficking

Thank you for your request for information received on 19/01/2011.

This will be processed in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act
2000.

Regards

Corporate Information Management Team

[Wandsworth Council request email]

020 8871 8119

show quoted sections

Freedom Of Information, Wandsworth Borough Council

1 Attachment

Freedom of Information Act request - 2011/4226 - Child Trafficking

       

I refer to your request for information relating to Child Trafficking
received on 19^th January 2011.

 

Please see the information in response to your questions provided below.

 

Qa,  Please see the attached spreadsheet containing CSS budgetary
information relating to the last 3 years only.

In order to process your request we would require you to reduce the scope
as it will take in excess of 18 hours to identify the detailed information
relevant to a yearly breakdown of budgetary allocation and spend for
assisting families in need from 2003 to date.  The information provided in
the attached spreadsheet is the information the authority is able to
provide within the 18 hour appropriate limit under FOIA.  In accordance
with the provisions defined under section 12 of the Freedom of Information
Act 2000 we are unable to supply the information requested as the process
of identifying, locating, retrieving and, where appropriate, extracting
the information would significantly exceed the appropriate limit as
defined by the Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate
Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004.

Qb   See attached spreadsheet containing CIN expenditure

  

Q1   Confirmed

 

Q2   Confirmed

 

Q3   In order to process your request we would require you to reduce the
scope as it will take in excess of 18 hours to identify the detailed
information relevant to children removed from their parents since 2003. 
To locate the requested information would require manual investigation of
all client files to identify if the requested information is contained;
this process is estimated to take more than 18 hours.  In accordance with
the provisions defined under section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act
2000 we are unable to supply the information requested as the process of
identifying, locating, retrieving and, where appropriate, extracting the
information would significantly exceed the appropriate limit as defined by
the Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and
Fees) Regulations 2004.

 

Q4   No child has been used for medical testing

 

Q5  Wandsworth gathers information relating to the faith of a child’s
parents.  Efforts are made to ensure that a child is facilitated to follow
the religion of a parent.  In matching children for permanent placement
this factor is always considered.   

 

Q6   Since 2003, no child has been returned to Wandsworth’s care post
adoption

 

Q7   See response to Q3, we are not able to supply this information within
the appropriate limit of 18 hours under FOIA as all client files would
need to be manually investigated to locate and identify the requested
information.

I hope this information meets your needs. If you do not understand the
information provided or wish to discuss anything further, please feel free
to contact me and I, or another member of the team will be able to assist
you.

Please note, all material provided by Wandsworth Council in response to
your request for information is for your personal, non-commercial use.
Wandsworth Council reserves all rights in the copyright of the information
provided. Any unauthorised copying or adaptation of the information
without express written confirmation from Wandsworth Council may
constitute an infringement of copyright. Any intention to re-use this
information commercially may require consent. Please forward any requests
for re-use of information to the FOI officer.

If you are dissatisfied with the decisions made or information provided in
relation to your request you may make representations to the Chief
Executive.  Correspondence should be addressed to:

Room 162

Wandsworth Town Hall

Wandsworth High Street

London

SW18 2PU

 

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have
the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a
decision.  The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:

Information Commissioner's Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

 

If you have any further queries please do not hesitate to contact me.

Yours sincerely

James De Cort

Information Management Officer

[1][Wandsworth Council request email]

══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════

show quoted sections