BBC Radio 4 Face the facts - government undermining family life by being innumerate and disingenuous
August 23, 2007 6:18 PM
The Department for Children Schools and Families were slammed today by John Hemming MP for being disingenuous about the adoption targets.
On BBC's Face the Facts (on Radio 4 at 12.30pm) The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) denied there was a target relating to taking children from their birth parents in order to meet overall adoption targets.
John Hemming MP, Chairman of Justice for Families, said, "This is disingenouous and misleading. There is a target for getting children in care adopted. To have a child adopted from care that child has to be in care first. The government were innumerate and ignored three things when they set the adoption targets. Firstly they ignored the approximately a third of children that are in care under Section 20 of the Childrens Act voluntarily because their parents cannot cope with them. Secondly, they ignored the fact that children over 5 are difficult to get successfully adopted. Thirdly, they compared a number of children in care at a given date to a number of children per year adopted. That fails on the basis of dimensional analysis."
"The end result is to achieve 8% of children in care over 6 months adopted they have to have both almost all of the children under 5 taken into care adopted and also take more children aged under 5 taken into care. The mathematics is quite simple."
"The government are trying to avoid their responsiblity for this situation - instead they should fix the problem. Childrens Social Services are not 100% responsible, the blame also rests with the Family Division and in particular those solicitors who act to undermine their own clients and the judges who refuse to allow fair trials."
"I am hoping that the United Nations will assist in trying to protect families in the England and Wales against the ravages of English and Welsh Public Family Law. It is a major destructive force. Whilst the state continues to undermine family life it should not be surprised at the consequences."
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