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Too Stupid To Have Children.

  • 22-01-2010 10:36PM
    #1
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,819 ✭✭✭CR 7


    Finally, authorities are seeing sense. Up with this sort of thing!!!

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1245190/Mother-clever-raise-child-baby-removed-social-workers-running-away.html?printingPage=true
    A couple who fled to Ireland after social workers threatened to remove their baby at birth have had the newborn snatched after all.
    Kerry Robertson, 17, who has mild learning difficulties, and Mark McDougall, 25, went on the run after British social services said she was not clever enough to raise a child.
    But just four days after Ben was born, Irish social workers marched into the maternity ward and forced them to hand him over.......

    [Too many words, see title for more details.]

    ...............The Irish authorities refused to comment last night.

    Stephen Moore, executive director of social work at Fife Council, said: ‘I can confirm that although the Robertson family are not presently within Fife, we are committed to working closely with professional colleagues elsewhere to ensure safety and welfare of the child and indeed the whole family as this is of paramount concern to us.

    ‘I would urge Kerry to use all the support that is being made available to her and her baby and to get appropriate help should she need it.’


«1345

Comments

  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,544 ✭✭✭hitlersson666


    Finally, authorities are seeing sense. Up with this sort of thing!!!

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1245190/Mother-clever-raise-child-baby-removed-social-workers-running-away.html?printingPage=true

    A couple who fled to Ireland after social workers threatened to remove their baby at birth have had the newborn snatched after all.

    Kerry Robertson, 17, who has mild learning difficulties, and Mark McDougall, 25, went on the run after British social services said she was not clever enough to raise a child.

    But just four days after Ben was born, Irish social workers marched into the maternity ward and forced them to hand him over.

    They were told they were acting at the behest of their British counterparts.

    The couple, from Fife, Scotland, have been on the run for three months.

    In September, their wedding was halted just 48 hours before the service when social workers claimed Miss Robertson was not bright enough to understand the marriage declaration.

    Then in November they were told that her ‘disability’ meant their baby would be taken away at birth.

    With Miss Robertson 29 weeks pregnant, they fled their house in the middle of the night and travelled to Ireland.

    Ben was born healthy and weighing 7lb 3oz last Friday.

    Last night Miss Robertson said: ‘When the Irish social workers said I had to give the baby to them, I felt sick.

    ‘I didn’t want to hand him over and I started crying because I couldn’t believe what they were saying. I thought I had misunderstood.

    ‘I had just been breastfeeding him.

    Just before they took him away, I told Ben I loved him and gave him a kiss.’

    Mr McDougall added: ‘Kerry let out a dreadful cry when she realised what was happening – it was terrible. She is just in pieces.

    ‘We believed that the Irish had more traditional values than social workers in the UK. We found a two-bedroom cottage in a beautiful village in Waterford overlooking the sea.

    ‘Kerry booked herself in with the local GP and at last we began to feel as if we were safe.’

    An anonymous benefactor has been funding the couple after they left home with just £200, and has even paid for the house.

    Artist Mr McDougall has also been selling pictures while friends and family have donated clothes, baby gear and further money.

    Miss Robertson has been cared for by her grandmother since the age of nine months after her own parents were unable to look after her, with her care overseen by Fife Council.

    She began getting contractions last Friday and the couple went to the local hospital, where she gave birth after a natural labour.

    ‘Both of us were overjoyed,’ said Mr McDougall. ‘Ben was absolutely perfect.’

    But on Tuesday morning two Irish social workers – a man and a woman – came to the hospital and delivered the bombshell.

    Mr McDougall added: ‘It seems that through Kerry’s medical records – although we have been on the run she has always ensured she had all the checks and scans on the baby – Fife Council had been alerted.

    ‘The social workers said that now Ben was born, Fife had put him on the at-risk register and he was subject to a care order.

    As the social workers told us the news, the two midwives who have been caring for Kerry were so distressed that they fled the room.’

    Ben is being cared for by foster parents.

    Family law experts said that if Fife had genuine concerns about the baby it had a duty to pursue the couple even once they had fled its jurisdiction.

    Under a 1980 European convention on child welfare, they would have contacted the Irish authorities to alert them and the Irish would then have sought an order from a judge allowing them to intervene.

    Irish social workers now have to investigate for themselves and have until Monday to make a decision on the case or apply for an extension.

    The couple have been allowed to see their son for two hours every other day.

    Miss Robertson said: ‘Holding him made me upset all over again. I’ve told the social workers I don’t want him to have bottled milk or a dummy. I feel breastfeeding is so important and at least then he is still having some of me.’

    Mr McDougall claimed the care order had the wrong baby’s name on it and the wrong date of birth. He added: ‘Kerry and I are now absolutely furious because we believe our baby has been kidnapped by social services.’

    LibDem MP John Hemming, who has been supporting the couple, said: ‘There is no evidence that Mark and Kerry cannot be good parents and I just hope that the Irish authorities can resolve this as quickly as possible.’

    The Irish authorities refused to comment last night.

    Stephen Moore, executive director of social work at Fife Council, said: ‘I can confirm that although the Robertson family are not presently within Fife, we are committed to working closely with professional colleagues elsewhere to ensure safety and welfare of the child and indeed the whole family as this is of paramount concern to us.

    ‘I would urge Kerry to use all the support that is being made available to her and her baby and to get appropriate help should she need it.’

    considering i live in foster care this really hits a raw nerve with me :mad: them fcuking heartless social workers should be taken to court for discrimation!!!!!!!


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,944 ✭✭✭Jay P


    considering i live in foster care this really hits a raw nerve with me :mad: them fcuking heartless social workers should be taken to court for discrimation!!!!!!!

    Heartless social workers?
    They're doing the child some good by taking him/her away from a Mother who doesn't have the mental capacity to raise him/her properly.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,462 ✭✭✭MaybeLogic


    Jay P wrote: »
    Heartless social workers?
    They're doing the child some good by taking him/her away from a Mother who doesn't have the mental capacity to raise him/her properly.

    She sounds articulate enough,if her quotes in the report are anything to go by.
    That's a disgrace,I think. (what happened)


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 802 ✭✭✭Lollymcd


    Finally, authorities are seeing sense. Up with this sort of thing!!!

    This is a really sensitive case, the extent of which is not dealt with in this article. Your statement is quite far off the mark.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 13,575 ✭✭✭✭PFJSplitter


    Funny story - I wonder where the truth ends and fantasy begins. There ARE 2 parents, yet the focus seems to be on the mum....


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11,651 ✭✭✭✭El Weirdo


    Funny story - I wonder where the truth ends and fantasy begins.
    Seeing as it's from the Daily Mail, I'd say right about here.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 802 ✭✭✭Lollymcd


    Funny story - I wonder where the truth ends and fantasy begins. There ARE 2 parents, yet the focus seems to be on the mum....

    The rights of the father don't count as they are not married, he therefore has no jurisdiction over the child.

    The couple were prevented from marrying by social services.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 645 ✭✭✭rockmongrel


    I see no mention of how she is mentally challenged... Gwan the quality journalism of the Daily Mail.
    Seems terrible to me to say she's too stupid without going into details, seems like the authorities just said "Oh look, durs a retard, gis your baby".


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 25,626 ✭✭✭✭My name is URL


    This would make an excelent RomCom / Thriller


  • Moderators, Entertainment Moderators, Politics Moderators Posts: 14,566 Mod ✭✭✭✭johnnyskeleton


    Jay P wrote: »
    Heartless social workers?
    They're doing the child some good by taking him/her away from a Mother who doesn't have the mental capacity to raise him/her properly.

    I would have more faith in a mentally challenged natural mother than in the state to know what is best for a child.

    Taking children from an environment where they could be physically or mentally abused, or where they are probably going to die or be caused serious harm is one thing, but the reality is often that social workers decide in their all too fallible wisdom that they should intervene in cases where they really have no business to do so.

    If a child is not given an advantage in life because of his mother's less than average IQ, that is at least better than him not being given that advantage because he was taken from his natural mother and put into care.

    They should bring article 40 proceedings to have the baby given back to them.


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 17,485 ✭✭✭✭Ickle Magoo


    It's atrocious. There is a long, long list of children in the UK let down by their local child services after numerous complaints, various social work reports and hospital visits - yet Fife council think in all their wisdom they can tell while the child is still in it's mothers womb that she doesn't fill the criterion for functioning mother - how the hell did they do that? :mad:


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 24,369 ✭✭✭✭ejmaztec


    It's atrocious. There is a long, long list of children in the UK let down by their local child services after numerous complaints, various social work reports and hospital visits - yet Fife council think in all their wisdom they can tell while the child is still in it's mothers womb that she doesn't fill the criterion for functioning mother - how the hell did they do that? :mad:

    Because they're gods and know everything, except when a kid gets murdered and they run around passing the buck at a public enquiry.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 7,938 ✭✭✭caseyann


    In these cases i believe if a parent is simply not capable to take care of a child instead of taking child away and displacing children from love of their parents,Place the parent in classes to enable them to become more capable to take on a roll as parent.But when child is just born the audacity to say not intelligent enough to take care of child is ludicrous.
    I see kids wandering streets here in dublin of age between 7 and 14,Where is social then? And babies who are left in houses alone :( One such story i heard of north side,Baby crawling around back garden in nappy in rain and door locked,2 Years old.Neighbour rang police and they came to house but did nothing.:mad:


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 850 ✭✭✭SoulTrader


    This would make an excelent RomCom / Thriller

    Indeed it did.

    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0277027/


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 809 ✭✭✭dylano_k


    considering i live in foster care this really hits a raw nerve with me :mad: them fcuking heartless social workers should be taken to court for discrimation!!!!!!!

    Hitler left his son in foster care??? what an evil basterd


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 27,252 ✭✭✭✭stovelid


    Decreeing that people can't be parents solely on the grounds of supposedly nominal intelligence sounds bogus.

    Especially as thousands of parents, who supposedly intellectually pass muster, can't fulfil a parental role because of addictions, or just plain disinterest.

    If that's what the case here is. I suspect that there could be more to the case?


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,221 ✭✭✭BluesBerry


    Id say there is a lot more to this than what we know the social services dont take children from their parents if they didn't have something to worry about
    They just don't go and take children of people for nothing there is a reason behind this decision that will probably never be disclosed
    They are doing their jobs if they didn't and something was to happen there would be public uproar as to why they were not doing their jobs


    Nothing to do with this story but there was a case a couple of years ago when the father killed his wife and children with her consent they even arranged their funeral that mother had a learning disability and look what happened there


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 645 ✭✭✭rockmongrel


    You complete bastard OP. Have you no empathy at all? This is a terrible case and you act like its some kind of triumph.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,221 ✭✭✭BluesBerry


    You complete bastard. Have you no empathy at all? This is a terrible case and you act like its some kind of triumph.

    Are you talking to me?


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 645 ✭✭✭rockmongrel


    BluesBerry wrote: »
    Are you talking to me?

    Sorry, directed at OP :)


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,944 ✭✭✭Jay P


    I would have more faith in a mentally challenged natural mother than in the state to know what is best for a child.

    Taking children from an environment where they could be physically or mentally abused, or where they are probably going to die or be caused serious harm is one thing, but the reality is often that social workers decide in their all too fallible wisdom that they should intervene in cases where they really have no business to do so.

    If a child is not given an advantage in life because of his mother's less than average IQ, that is at least better than him not being given that advantage because he was taken from his natural mother and put into care.

    They should bring article 40 proceedings to have the baby given back to them.

    Ok...that's a really good point. I don't know a whole lot about state care.

    Admitting I'm wrong is harder than I thought :o


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 5,813 ✭✭✭themadchef


    Damned if you do, damned if you dont.

    Remember, social services have let whole families who needed support die in this country because the service couldint be provided or wasint adequate etc.

    It does seem too much to swoop in and take the child, and i feel very sorry for the parents BUT if you found out next week or next year that the child died for any un-natural reason there would be a public out cry of "why was nothing done?"

    I do think they went in boots first here, support the family unit, offer help and services instead of being judge and jury and just removing the baby BUT maybe, just maybe, there are things we dont know about this story that caused those decisions to be made.

    Of course it could also just be a complete fcuk up, if the sole reason for removing the child is the mothers IQ.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 24,369 ✭✭✭✭ejmaztec


    Perhaps there's a shortage of kids to abuse in care homes, so they had to get more stock.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 17,485 ✭✭✭✭Ickle Magoo


    ejmaztec wrote: »
    Perhaps there's a shortage of kids to abuse in care homes, so they had to get more stock.

    The real cynic in me says that a sweet brand new-born baby is in higher demand in terms of adoption than one of those wee toe-rags left with their averagely-intelligent-excuse of parents & the strike was purely pre-emptive on that basis. :(


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 24,369 ✭✭✭✭ejmaztec


    The real cynic in me says that a sweet brand new-born baby is in higher demand in terms of adoption than one of those wee toe-rags left with their averagely-intelligent-excuse of parents & the strike was purely pre-emptive on that basis. :(


    Oh yeh, and then there's that process. The child's probably reserved, and social services will probably say that it was orphaned when its astro-physicist parents got killed in a laboratory accident, just before they were off to collect their joint Nobel Prize.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 3,971 ✭✭✭we'llallhavetea_old


    jesus, that sounds rough. obviously we don't know the whole story, but even still, the amount of stupid bastArds i see raising their kids is quite high, and they're ... fine.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,544 ✭✭✭hitlersson666


    dylano_k wrote: »
    Hitler left his son in foster care??? what an evil basterd

    social workers said that the son oh the devil and hitler should not be around them....... only coz there gay :(


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 27,944 ✭✭✭✭4zn76tysfajdxp


    You complete bastard OP. Have you no empathy at all? This is a terrible case and you act like its some kind of triumph.

    Banned.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 8,594 ✭✭✭bonerm


    Here's some video of yer wan so you can judge for yourself. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Yd25ejL6jU

    Have to be careful with all this lecturing on who and who should not be allowed to have children. For example, the Holocaust in Germany started off with "just" the killing mentally retarded children. You point the finger at someone and eventually it might point back at you.


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,462 ✭✭✭MaybeLogic


    bonerm wrote: »
    Here's some video of yer wan so you can judge for yourself. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Yd25ejL6jU

    Have to be careful with all this lecturing on who and who should not be allowed to have children. For example, the Holocaust in Germany started off with "just" the killing mentally retarded children. You point the finger at someone and eventually it might point back at you.

    That's heartbreaking watching that.
    I don't see how this is a good decision in any way.
    Since when does the level of someones IQ indicate how good or bad they will be at bringing up a child?


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