{"id":1028,"date":"2009-12-09T17:05:42","date_gmt":"2009-12-09T17:05:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.againstchildtrafficking.org\/?p=1028"},"modified":"2010-10-15T09:03:14","modified_gmt":"2010-10-15T09:03:14","slug":"couple-flee-britain-amid-fears-social-services-will-kidnap-their-unborn-son","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/couple-flee-britain-amid-fears-social-services-will-kidnap-their-unborn-son\/","title":{"rendered":"Couple flee Britain amid fears social services will &#8216;kidnap&#8217; their unborn son"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>Source:<a href=\"http:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/news\/uknews\/6764101\/Couple-flee-Britain-amid-fears-social-services-will-kidnap-their-unborn-son.html\" target=\"_blank\"> www.telegraph.co.uk<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>A couple who claim social services \u201ckidnapped\u201d their baby daughter  for adoption are due to flee Britain today to prevent their unborn child  being taken into care.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>By Murray Wardrop<br \/>\nPublished: 7:30AM GMT 09 Dec 2009<\/p>\n<p>The couple with with one of their baby&#8217;s first toys Photo: DANIEL JONES<br \/>\nThe pair, who cannot be named for legal reasons, intend to travel to  Spain because they fear social workers will try to adopt their son, who  is due in February.<\/p>\n<p>Their daughter was taken into care in October last year when she was  nine weeks old after Suffolk County Council raised concerns that they  were unfit to bring her up.<\/p>\n<p>Related Articles<\/p>\n<p>\u00b7         Couple fail to prevent daughter being adopted after &#8216;kidnap&#8217; by social services<\/p>\n<p>\u00b7         British baby siezed in Ireland after parents flee social workers over custody row<\/p>\n<p>\u00b7         Mother fights claims she is &#8216;too stupid&#8217; to bring up child<\/p>\n<p>\u00b7         Bridget McCain&#8217;s Bangladesh orphanage revealed<\/p>\n<p>\u00b7         Guatemalan mother reunited with baby stolen and sold for adoption by US couple<\/p>\n<p>The couple allege that police and council staff forced their way into  their home and snatched the girl despite no allegation made against  them ever having been proven.<\/p>\n<p>The 32-year-old woman and 41-year-old man said they felt they had  been &#8220;driven from their own country&#8221; in order to ensure they can bring  up their own child.<\/p>\n<p>The father, a lorry driver, told the Daily Telegraph: \u201cWe are  absolutely terrified that social services will do exactly the same thing  with our baby boy as they did with our daughter.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey have already requested that we attend meetings for a pre-birth  risk assessment but we are not taking any chances, so we\u2019re leaving  immediately.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe feel like refugees, being driven from our own country just so we  can have the right, like any other parent, to bring up our own son.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have had to drop our entire lives and flee but we cannot take the risk of losing our baby, it would destroy us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The pair intend to start a new life abroad and have arranged to move  into a flat in Algorfa, a small town on the Costa Blanca in Alicante.<\/p>\n<p>Last month in the Commons Tim Yeo, the couple\u2019s local MP, accused  council officials of &#8220;kidnapping&#8221; the child solely to boost their  adoption figures.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This council actively seeks opportunities to remove babies from  their mothers. Its social work staff do so in a manner which in my view  is sometimes tantamount to child kidnapping,\u201d he told MPs.<\/p>\n<p>The mother came to the attention of social services in 2006 when she was married.<\/p>\n<p>As her marriage disintegrated and a custody battle ensued,  allegations were made to social services about her ability to be a good  mother.<\/p>\n<p>It was claimed that she had factitious disorder \u2013 a condition in  which sufferers are said to feign illness or exaggerate symptoms. It was  also alleged that she had falsely claimed her son suffered from various  illnesses. She denies both claims.<\/p>\n<p>She gave birth to her daughter in August last year and she and her  new partner were allowed to take the baby home following advice from  doctors.<\/p>\n<p>The couple said they were continually \u201chounded\u201d by social services  until October 27, when council staff and police banged on their door,  moved in and removed the girl.<\/p>\n<p>They were not allowed to cuddle their daughter or see before she was taken, they said.<\/p>\n<p>Since then, the couple have only been allowed to see their daughter at supervised visits to a children\u2019s centre 15 miles away.<\/p>\n<p>Adoption proceedings were finalised in September and the baby is due to be transferred to adoptive parents in January.<\/p>\n<p>Suffolk County Council has denied it wanted to take the baby to boost  targets. A spokesman said Suffolk did not have targets and followed  national guidance and legislation on providing an adoption service.<br \/>\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Source: www.telegraph.co.uk A couple who claim social services \u201ckidnapped\u201d their baby daughter for adoption are due to flee Britain today to prevent their unborn child being taken into care.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1028"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1028"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1028\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1030,"href":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1028\/revisions\/1030"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}