NOT SUCH GOOD NEWS BUT THERE IS HOPE

[Alison J Stevens]

Dear friends 
 
It's with great despair that we have to advise you that the Family 
Court Judge in Swansea ruled yesterday that baby J is to be put forward 
for adoption and denied a life with his natural birth mother. 
 
His mother, M is obviously distraught having battled for 17 months to 
prove that she was more than a 'good enough' mother to care for her 
baby. 
The judge made several comments as to her decision but much of it was 
based on historical evidence and assessments from mothers past. 
One comment made was that it was felt that the Local Authority (LA) 
should now NOT be expected to pay the cost of keeping baby in temporary 
foster care whilst mother, now 30, continues to receive therapy and 
deal with things of her past, to enable mother and baby can stay 
together. In other words, had the things from her past been dealt with 
before now, Mother and Baby would not find themselves in this place. 
 
The sad thing is that due to the lack of input from LA and Social 
Services (SS) in mothers life when she was much younger, in and out of 
various foster and children's homes, back and forward to her mother who 
gave her up the first time when she was only 2; being raped by a step 
father at the age of 12 and having to have an abortion; being abused by 
some of those in care supposedly caring for he, under the nose of SS; 
being persuaded to confess to a crime against her first child which she 
did not do which led to her having a serious conviction against her. 
Mother is a prime example of the failed system that was supposed to 
care for her when she was just a baby and child and into her teenage 
years. And whilst noone wants to make judgements on others involved in 
her life, those that make judgements now on her life need to recognise 
that she IS a failed product of a system that is still failing and 
judging her now, based on her past, that they should have helped her 
with during those years. 
 
And this still continues today with others as we often hear in the 
news. 
 
Whilst this is somewhat an unusual case by way of it's detail, the 
truth is there are many, many children, youth and some now adults that 
have been failed by the system and end up being 'punished', just like 
mother M is now, caused by actions of others that a) were not of their 
own making and b) have never, never received any support or help for 
them to be able to deal with such things, especially in adult life. 
 
The good news, is, if it can be regarded as 'good' news, the McKenzie 
friend, JH, who is representing mother and the organisation she works 
for, Justice For Families ( http://justice-for-families.org.uk ) are 
preparing to take this case to the European Court of Human Rights and 
the High Court of Appeal. They believe that there is a case to be 
answered and a good possibility that mother and baby will, eventually 
be able to stay together, full time. This will also allow in the 
meantime they can maintain regular contact, allowing their obvious 
bonding to continue. 
Whilst this is good news in as much the LA's have not yet been able to 
negate their responsibilities to both mother and baby, it does prolong 
the process of finally letting baby stay with his mother. 
We would ask you therefore for your continued prayers for both mother 
and baby. 
 
We do have another difficult request, simply that there is a need for 
financial support. This is primarily to pay for the expenses incurred 
by JH, the McKenzie Friend as well as to allow Mother to continue with 
her therapy, which the LA/SS refuse to pay for. Plse pray about this 
and if you feel you can support we can receive money in various ways. 
You can forward it to us in cheque form made out to 'Wings For Life' 
our trust account. This allows for all donations to be clearly 
accountable as well as not having to be paid into and transferred from 
personal accounts. You could also make cheque's payable to the McKenzie 
friend, who's details we will forward if you advise us in the first 
instance. 
We will guarantee that all donations will be used for this cause. 
 
Thank you once again for your love, support and prayers in this 
matter. We will keep you advised as to the progress in moving on to the 
European Court of Human Rights and The High Court of Appeal. 
 
God bless you.PAIN