MEDIA REQUEST FOR ANYBODY THAT FITS THE CRITERIA-PLEASE QUOTE PAIN IF YOU GET IN TOUCH

[Alison J Stevens]

Dear Alison,

I was given your contact details by Vicky a mutual friend who holds you in high regard (see emails below). My name is Rowenna Davis and I'm a journalist from London. I want to write about how women
from ethnic minority backgrounds are having their children taken away
unjustifiably, and I was hoping for your help.

If you search my name online you'll see I write for a variety of publications, most frequently the Guardian and the Financial Times. I'm hoping one of the nationals will go for this story, but Community Care
- the national journal for social workers - may also be interested. The
problem is that one personal story like Vicky's - no matter how tragic
- is not enough to form an article. What I need is a new policy
announcement/report/research etc that would give me a reason to write
about this now. I hate to be cynical, but my editors won't take this
otherwise!

The other thing I need is some facts about just how widespread this problem is. I'd need to know the number of children who have been taken into care in the UK over the last 5/10 years, and the proportion
of those that have come from ethnic minority families. I'd also need to
know what percentages of these decisions are challenged, how many of
those challenges come from parents of ethnic minorities and how that's
changed over time.

If you think you could help with any of the above please do let me know. I believe this is an important issue to write about, and I hope I will be able to do so. As I said before, past examples of my work can
be found online if you want to see the type of articles I write. Please
don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.

Thanks and best wishes,

Rowenna

--
Freelance Journalist

Tel: [phone]
Email: [e-mail]

Twitter: http://twitter.com/Rowenna_Davis Media request