Yvonnes Story - UK Social Services Tried to Take my Granddaughter - A Families Hell
Yvonne Stewart-Taylors Granddaughter was born in the U.S.A. on 26th May 2002 after her Mother went into premature labour 3.5 months early on a beach in Mexico. Her parents were transported by Air ambulance to University of San Diego hospital where the labour could not be halted. The little one was born by emergency ceaserian section weighing in at just 2lb 6oz. The baby stayed in intensive care for 10 weeks during which time I visited the new family and tried to help support them.
She had only a 50% chance of survival. It cost Barclays travel insurance over $1 million for her intensive care. In August 2002 she was flown by Air Ambulance from San Diego to Newcastle Upon Tyne where we were told we would have a problem getting her into the British system because she came into the U.K. without a passport and holds an American Birth certificate only.
We were at a loss as to how, at a time of heightened national security, S.A.G.A, working on behalf of Barclays insurance could have managed to bring her into the UK illegally. From
Newcastle she was brought by ambulance to Lancaster Royal Infirmary and later discharged. Finally we had her home. As a caring family we all cared for her and loved her, she was and still is the centre of our Universe.
On Jan 03, 2003 she was admitted to hospital with a severe chest infection, remaining there for a few days and then sent home with a broken femur. I asked for a full inquiry into how this could have occurred. A locum pedeatrician at Lancaster diagnosed “Non-accidental Injuries” and Social Services took out an interim care order; accusing the family of child abuse.
We asked them to wait until doctors in San Diego could be consulted. We were refused. We endured 8 months of child care proceedings and had to fight the system. When San Diego Doctors finally sent e-mails to her Mother stating she had been born with significant OOP (osteopenia of prematurity); a bone condition which effects premature infants.
We had been told that if one of six family members did not admit to hurting her she would be placed for adoption.
We were all questioned by police regarding child abuse, including her great grandfather who had lost his wife (my Mother) a few months previously to terminal cancer. Police asked him why he came to visit us so regularly?
After 8 months the family court dispersed the child protection case to Australia, where after a few weeks it was disposed of as a waste of their time and resources. We had seen her for only 2 hours per week for 8 months, under social services supervision. Some weeks we didn’t see her at all because social services didn’t have enough staff.
We went through hell.
Had it not have been for the arrival into the UK, from Australia of her maternal grandmother, social services would have removed her from her birth family -she was still being breast fed at the time, and social services had no mother and child foster provision to place her in. Her Australian granny oversaw her care 24/7 without respite for 8 months; preventing them from being able to take our granddaughter away.
We were made to prove our innocence and treated like criminals. The social workers were so set on an agenda of ‘baby for adoption’ that one even changed the wording of the Australian social worker’s report to try and mislead the Court. Pergery of a document admitted to court. Social services went to great length to protect her from the mixed-race paternal family.
Later, when we complained, they admitted partially discriminating against us on racial grounds. They were not compliant with The Amended Race Relations Act, and had inadequate policies in place.
Our suffering and sense of loss was immense. We had all endured 8 months of hell.
We celebrated when the Family Court judge said we could bring her home and her parents could then take her to be with her Australian family. We were sad to see them go but relieved that social services had to let go. She had been neglected by the NHS, we had been falsely accused, and yet she did not become another of the thousands of children who have been wrongly removed from their birth families and illegally adopted in the UK. Our one saving grace was American Doctors’ e-mails and the fact that she is an American Citizen with no claim to British Citizenship until her parents are married, which to date they are not.
Had social services placed her for adoption to a UK couple they would have contravened international law.
We have exhausted all the complaints procedures only to either be ignored or fobbed off. The NHS were presented with our formal complaint along with the police in December 06 and to date the NHS has not answered our complaint. Social services have refused to answer the Australian complaint and the police have not addressed our concerns either.
My Husband who works for Cumbria Constabulary has, twice in the last two years, faced disciplinary action directly associated with this case and could lose his job after 6 months of investigation into his alleged misconduct at work. The authorities are now hell bent on making us criminals.
Not one family member has ever been prosecuted or charged with any offense yet we are listed on a secret police intelligence computer as ‘prospective child abusers’.
We have requested the removal of our names and been refused. My Son, his daughter and her Mother do not feel safe to return to the UK, as the social worker has said he will get her next time. It has cost us approx £25,000 and the Australian family the loss of their home, business and caused the family unit of 30 years to almost breakdown. We fear that due to the stress of it all her parents relationship will not endure much longer. The good name and character of our families has been tarnished and I can no longer function normally day to day. I lost my jobs, and fear my husband will soon lose his. We will be forced to sell our home and leave the UK in the near future. Institutionally racist Cumbrian Authorities have done us and our granddaughter nothing but harm and they are not even going to be dealt with, for this huge miscarriage of justice.
People aware of this case.
Tony Blair Prime Minister, Margaret Hodge Minister for Children, John Hemming MP, Beverly Hughes Minister for Children, Tim Collins MP, Tim Farron MP, Chief Constable Baxter (Cumbria Constabulary), Joan Stocker, County Council.
Non can intervene in individual cases or right the wrongs of the flawed family courts. The only chance we have of justice, is to go to the European Courts with others who have had their families torn apart.
We are fortunate we still have our granddaughter. The sad reality is that the UK child protection racket is nothing more than a liscence for the Family Law Franchises to make money, at tax payers expense and rip innocent families apart for financial gain. Sadly while vital recourses are wasted on innocent families, children who really need protection are being abused. Many thousands of pounds of tax payers money have been wasted on this case to protect what was essentially an illegal immigrant.
US congress are also aware of this case involving one of their citizens and we intend to tell this story as widely as we can in three countries in the hope of naming and shaming those who have
deliberately abused us as a family. We want to raise awareness of this case in the hope that it will highlight the abuse of innocent families in the UK by Government Agencies who appear to be a law unto themselves and answerable to none. We believe that this case sets a president as American Dr’s as well as UK Dr’s were involved. If we had relied on UK Doctors we would have certainly lost her to the system.
The fact remains that she is not even British.
The current system is flawed, open to abuse and damaging or destroying families. How much longer can this continue?
Why do social workers have and abuse, so much power?
Note. I am not bound by the Court’s gagging orders to be silent as I was never a party to Proceedings. The parents do not have the same freedom I have to speak about this, as they are bound by the courts not to speak about it. I have deliberately concealed names to protect the innocent. I do feel strongly that this case should be made public, especially if it raises the profile enough to force changes to occur in the future and prevent others from enduring what we have been through. No, family should have to suffer as we have done.
Incidentally, our family were interviewed re-child abuse by my husbands work colleagues, is it any wonder we are still being looked at and treated like criminals by local police? Policies
and procedures have not been followed by Social Services or the Police.
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On 24th Nov 2009 at 01:09 AM Yvonne Stewart-Taylor said...
Letter from THE MINISTRY OF INJUSTICE. Bridget Prentice MP Parliamentary Under secretary of State. Jack Straws understudy.
To David Gauke MP.
House of Commons London SW1A 0AA
A letter has just come to me, dated the 12 November 2009 from Bridget Prentice MP Parliamentary Under Secretary of State.
It is a response to my lobbying MP’s re corruption in the Secret Family Court System. She is responding to David Gauke MP the Ref is MC257983
The letter reads as follows.
Dear David
Yvonne Stewart-Taylor , my address is here omitted.
Thank you for your letter of 14 October to Jack Straw, about social services and openness in the family courts. I am replying as the Minister responsible for the family justice system in England and Wales. You refer to an earlier letter which my officials have not been able to trace, but I apologise for the delay in responding to you nonetheless.
I am very sorry for the experience that Mrs Stewart-Taylor has had with social services and the family courts regarding her grandchild. In order to preserve the principle of judicial independence, I cannot give opinion on a specific case but I hope that she will find the following general comments helpful.
It has, since 1991, been the policy of successive governments, as set out in legislation, that children should live with their parents wherever possible and that services should be provided to children in need and their families to enable this to happen.
The child protection system is designed to identify families who may be vulnerable and seeks to offer help at an early stage in order to enable children to remain in their family. Social workers must work closely with parents to identify and evidence where change or improvement is necessary in order to enable a family to stay together.
I assure Mrs Stewart-Taylor that local authorities are not given financial incentives to increase the number of children in care or remove children from care of their parents in order for them to be adopted. The decision to take a child into care is never an easy one, and the decision to make a care order is taken by the courts. In every case where a child is taken into care on a care order, the courts will have considered all the evidence and taken the view that the child has been significantly harmed, or would be if they were not taken into care.
where the court makes an order placing a child in the care of a local authority, the authority will continue to work with the family with a view to the child returning home. Happily, the vast majority of children are returned to their parents. for those children who cannot return home to their parents, they have the right to have alternative plans considered to provide them with a permanent home; adoption is only one of the available options of providing this.
The final decision on whether a child should be adopted rests with the courts. Before a court makes such an important decision it must be convinced on the basis of the evidence that this is the best way to meet the child’s needs on a long term basis. where the parents/guardians have not given their consent, but it may only do so in limited circumstances. The court would have to be satisfied that the parent could not be found or is incapable of giving consent, or that the welfare of the child requires the consent to be dispensed with.
The Government does not have, and has never had, a national target to increase the number of children being taken into care. the target on adoption reflected the Government’s desire to reverse a long-term decline in the number of children already in care finding a permanent home through adoption. The adoption target ended in March 2006. Similarly, the Government does not set adoption targets for local authorities, although authorities themselves may choose to develop targets with central Government through the Local area Agreement/Local Public service agreement process.
Mrs Stewart-Taylor is also concerned about the ability of parents or families to speak out about their case. The extent to which a parent, child or the media can publish information about individual children is complex and determined by a number of different aspects of legislation. The issue is the need to balance the rights of children to privacy, with the rights of other parties, and those of the media, in relation to freedom of expression.
The government has already taken some action to make family proceedings more open- the media can attend most proceedings, and the rules about disclosure of information have been amended to make it easier for people to seek the help and support they need.
these changes do not yet apply to adoption cases.Adoption is the most difficult and life changing decision a family court can make and needs special consideration. There are concerns that the identity of children and adoptive parents might be exposed, particularly in small rural populations or ethnic community areas. we are therefore considering, along with people most involved in adoption work, how best that these proceedings can be made more open but alongside legislation to ensure that identities are protected.
We will also introduce new legislation that will put the reporting and admission regime for all tiers of family court on the same foundation as that for youth courts. This will allow the media to report the substance of what they witness, but not any information that would lead to revealing the identity of the families involved. The Government will revise the law on reporting restrictions as soon as parliamentary time allows.
I hope that this letter is helpful. I am enclosing a copy for you to forward to Mrs Stewart-Taylor, should you wish to do so.
Kind regards
Bridget
BRIDGET PRENTICE
I would be interested in what anyone thinks about this. It has taken 6 years to get to here. I have been lobbying every MP for many years, repeatedly and finally we get this response.??
A pack of lies and total codswallop. They do not even have the manors to give me a direct reply and she leaves it to David Gauke MP, to decide if he wishes to share it with me. How rude and inconsiderate.
I can prove that this a total pack of lies.
On 26th Nov 2009 at 04:46 PM Yvonne Stewart-Taylor said...
http://protectfamily.ning.com/forum/topics/tim-meo-mp-parliament
http://protectfamily.ning.com/video/tim-meo-mp
Please use the above links and view the latest news re child kidnap and trafficking by UK authorities.
The video backs up what I have been trying to get out in the public domain for many years.
On 28th Nov 2009 at 04:12 PM Chris said...
oh dear. I was in care as a child and recently had SS trying to take my kids. The problem is that legally they are not actually our children. The truth is that when you registered the birth certificate you handed your child over to the state and agreed to the social security contract on their behalf.
It is like the DVLA crushing your car for not having tax. They can do it because you have registered the car to them so it is their car.
Do not single out SS for being greedy power headz. The whole system is based on commerce and you dont know it. Do not think that the law exists through common law and morals, there has not been a common law court for 200 years in USA or UK, it is all commercial courts making money.
Beat them or join them. Discover how this situation is possible to happen in the first place. Get to know the law and how it works soon because it takes a lifetime to unravel it then you will be startled at what is going on behind the curtain
Chris
On 20th Dec 2009 at 01:00 AM Yvonne Stewart-Taylor said...
FOR THE ATTENTION OF:
Chris Davies MEP
North West
Saturday 19 December 2009
Yvonne Stewart-Taylor
21 Park Avenue
Windermere.
CUMBRIA
LA23 2AR
01539446***
Dear Chris Davies,
I have written to you a couple of times at least and never get a response. Are you interested in the scandal affecting the UK in the secret family courts?
I have been involved in politics since I was 18 when I became a young liberal. I chaired the local party in Windermere for 5 years. Stood for election on Town, District and County Councils. Served 17 years on the Town council.
I have raised the issue of the secret satanic family court corruption for the last 6 years, lobbying and putting the word out, supporting other falsely accused parents( I am a McKenzie Friend working for Parents Against Injustice and Families for Justice with John Hemming MP) Henry Bellingham MP and others are now taking up the challenge to reform the system and attempt to make it decent. You will remember Tim Yeo MP and what he has said. The word is finally out.Parents and grandparents who have had their children stolen by the state to meet adoption targets. Child Kidnap and trafficking, and destruction of healthy families is a multi million pound industry in the UK and USA,where they have a parallel system and has been since 2000. A decade of professional decadent living at the expense of innocent family destruction.It looks like Tony and George have set working class families up to be exploited. This is a social engineering, deliberate program used by the Fabians, in Australia, “The Lost children”.
No point Gordon Brown apologizing when his own government are still at it.
Despite my bringing this scandal to the attention of all Mep’s at least three times in the last 12 months and all MP’s on numerous occasions last 6 years, no one seems to care. so long as their own families remain intact.
I wonder, how many of our “so called leaders” actually care about anything other than their own prestige, power and money. I wonder how many fear or respect their Creator? I know that God made families for a purpose, a divine purpose and that any mortal who destroys an innocent family as part of his career is in for trouble later, as God will not be mocked. I see the whole picture, not a fraction of it.
For humanities sake, can you please do something about the corruption at the top which is stealing children and feeding pedophile rings ? If you do not believe me, their is enough evidence out there. Enough children have been raped by foster parents, abused drugged and neglected. The truth is out and has been for some time.
It is long overdue that decent leaders stand up and be counted and put an end to the human misery that so many corrupt professionals are profiteering from.
My Master is Jesus Christ, NOT Satan. I abhor secret societies and their satanist sinister agendas. All the way to the top goes Corruption and abuse of power. Ordinary people have no say and no way to fight back. Our leaders pay lip service to democracy. We have no human rights and neither do our children. We are socially controlled and indoctrinated by Lucifarian values. The Jesuit Order is at the head of all this and I do not find it surprising that many Catholic Priests sodomize young boys. The purer the better.
I am fully aware that some have lost their lives for saying less, but as I have said. I have one master Jesus Christ, and I serve him and only Him, for Eternity. I cannot sit back, knowing this is going on and remain silent.
Yours sincerely,
Yvonne Stewart-Taylor.
On 22nd Dec 2009 at 10:47 PM Yvonne Stewart-Taylor said...
Relocation and Leave to Remove: A Report by The Custody Minefield
Foreword by Sir Bob Geldof. Published December 2009
I can hardly read the literature on Family Law without simultaneous feelings of an awful sadness and profound rage. Sadness at what has been done to our children and their families and deep rage for our Family Courts and the inadequate practitioners that work within it.
In the near future the Family Law under which we endure will be seen as barbaric, criminally damaging, abusive, neglectful, harmful to society, the family, the parents and the children in whose name it purports to act. It is beyond scrutiny or criticism and like a secret society its members – the judges, lawyers, social and child “care” agencies behave like any closed vested interest and protect each others’ backs.
The court is entirely informed by outdated social engineering models and contemporary attitudes rather than fact, precedent rather than common sense and modish unproven nostrums rather than present day realities. It is a disgraceful mess. A farrago of cod professionalism and faux concern largely predicated on nonsensical social guff, mumbo-jumbo and psycho-babble. Dangling at the other end of this are the lives of thousands of British children and their families.
Here is one more report that empirically nails the obvious fact that to remove a child from their father (in the hugely vast majority of cases), their grandparents and other family, their school and friends, is wholly destructive to a child and its family.
How much longer must we put up with the state sanctioned kidnap of our most vulnerable? Because in effect that’s what “Leave to Remove” amounts to. How much longer do we tolerate the vested interest intransigence of the appalling U.K. Family Justice system? How long before just one of them admit they have got it ALL wrong and apologise to their myriad victims?
This report is important, timely and vital. To accept its findings, which could have and should have, been conducted at any time in the past 30 years, is to accept the awful conclusion that rather than Solomon like resolving our tragically human disputes with understanding, compassion and logical pragmatism the courts have consistently acted against society’s interest through the application of prejudice, gender bias and awful impartial cruelty.
This report proves it. May God forgive them. I won’t.
Bob Geldof (December 2009)
On 4th Jan 2010 at 01:53 PM this is not new!! said...
It makes me so sad that social services are allowed to get away with this.
I have a story to share from 16 years .....how do I do this?
On 28th Jan 2010 at 08:43 AM carole Cliffe said...
Hi Yvonne I can empathise on so many levels my son experienced being restrained whilst in a social service respite unit coming home with severe bruising in his lower back which i and his carers found. I reported it to his social worker to then experinece the “intake” team coming into my home and robustly set about investigating me and my care team. They did not as I am aware investigate their own with same tenacity. When I requested the paperwork of the incident no paperwork was available or in place despite it being a legal requirment this sloppy recording or lack of it ultimately places the parent/s at greater risk. This is a failing authority having lost its ratings and is desperate to be seen to be improving yet NO ONE talks to the parents to gain information on the huge failing performances. Worse still when you do complain inquiries and investigations are carried out by their own colleagues and/or former colleagues NO independent investigators despite requests for same. I contacted and complained to CSCi, the portfolio holder at Cumbria County council over the serial mismanagment of this council but to no avail nothing improves and families and vulnerable individuals are kept at heightened risk by their working practices. If we all group together surely someone somewhere will pick up the cudgell there keeping us apart fuels the feeling we are on our own stay brave if more where these kind of practices must surely end. Best wishes to you and your family
On 21st Feb 2010 at 04:00 PM Yvonne Stewart-Taylor said...
URGENT. WINDERMERE POLICE.
My son was beaten up 13/12/09, on his way home, by an off duty doorman who co habits with a police woman. Instead of investigating my sons injuries, the Windermere police have attempted to protect this thug, who works under licence of South Lakeland District Council, by falsely arresting my son, while suffering a head injury, unlawfully denied him immediate medical attention, arrested him for Drunk and disorderly?? Imposed more unlawful bail conditions and assumed his guilt already on police paperwork without trial. Assumed my son is a young offender, he has to date no criminal record. He is 28 years old, Violating Article 6 ECHR. He is due to appear in court 6th May 2010, after having pleaded not guilty. CPS, The Courts and bent police are all implicated as they have been fully informed in writing.
The statement given by his assailant is not signed. The police paperwork is flawed. Ethnicity has been assumed, etc The police are liars. This is a total set up, of an innocent man, due to my ongoing complaints about police wrongdoing. Over the last 7 years!! 2003 false allegations, defamation of character, social shaming, unlawful stop and searches, accusations of criminal activity etc, of our innocent family. I am a retired Town Councilor. Cumbrian Authorities, CP and FM. Absolute criminals. Please share this with as many as you can. They are trying to cherry pick off all those who expose corruption. Thanks
This is in addition to the above story. When you try to get justice this is how you are treated. They are absolute CRIMINALS using bully boy tactics to try and break us and silence us.Update as soon as I have one.
On 30th Mar 2010 at 02:45 AM elaine said...
me and my family are still suffering at the hands of our social worker robyn agnew, its getting better slowly but every week she tells me she s going to get my kids into care one day, shes still telling lies but, thankfuly people are starting to realise that she is possilbly insane, i thnk people are more aware now and seeing that she is quite frankly “evil” to the core she plays with my children like toys she glares at them especialy my eldest daughter and accuses her of some horrific things, now one of the school teachers has joined forces with the old batttlaxe, it seems as soon as we get somwhere they do somthing else to try to break our family up! im considering reporting her to the head of social work in scotalnd that i have concerens about her state of mind and feel she is in fact now a danger to mine and other children we are probably lucky to have the support we have because if we dident my children wouldent be with me today, my heart truely goes out to anyone else that s going through this, it s absolutely heartbreaking some of the things iv read and one day when i hope this will be over, i want to help people who have gone through what iv gone through but with any luck and i pray to god that by then someone will have done somthing about this disgrace of a system in this country love and best wishes to you all my thoguhts are with you xxxxx
On 8th Apr 2010 at 04:52 PM Yvonne Stewart-Taylor said...
errish
Mar 25th 2010
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Update: Robert Green, Anne & Hollie Greig will attend. Robert plans to speak. Further details to come.
Saturday 10 April 2010 Start: 11 a.m. Finish: 5 p.m.
Venue: Stafford Rangers Social Club, Marston Road, Stafford, ST16 3BX (Location)
In recent years, there has been a steady increase in media reports concerning Mothers and Fathers, Grandparents and Families reporting the taking of children from their parents and homes by Social Services. Most significantly, many children are taken using false evidence, psychiatric reports and false accusations by Social Services, in collusion with Local Authorities, Police, Judiciary and other agencies. The ‘snatching’ of the child or children is further facilitated by the secretive system of the Courts, where the parents are gagged from telling the truth about what is happening to them and their child. Perjury in Court to assist the ‘snatch’ is commonplace.
In many cases, evidence collected at the time, or emerging later, shows that the children snatched by the state are often subject to neglect or abuse within the care protection system. Some children are also drugged. Parents of either sex, who try and fight to keep their children, are frequently subjected to psychological pressure and intimidation to undermine their efforts, drive a wedge between them and their partner, and in a number of cases silence them by incarceration in psychiatric institutions and / or ‘forced’ prescription of psychotropic drugs.
Over the last three years, the UKColumn community newspaper has received many reports on child-snatching and child abuse, together with irrefutable supporting evidence of wrongdoing by people and authorities who should be protecting children and families. Some of these cases can only be described as horrific, and of major concern to every moral person in UK. The latest has been that of the paedophile rape of Down’s Syndrome girl Hollie Greig. This informal conference has been arranged by the UKColumn as part of the growing Lawful Rebellion movement – people across UK taking peaceful action to say “enough is enough.” In this case we are working to bring victims of ‘Child Snatching by the State’ together to learn more about the nature and sheer scale of the problem – government sponsored ‘Child Snatching’. We will also be setting out ways in which families, organisations and individuals can work together to stop this vile crime, and to bring those involved to justice, no matter what their personal and professional status, affiliations and wealth. Contributions from members of the public and especially those who have suffered the loss of their children are encouraged, within the time available to us.
Speakers
Welcome and Introduction: Brian Gerrish
Canadian Indian Holocaust: Kevin Annett
Forced Adoption: Ian Joseph (to be confirmed)
Kendall House Abuse: Teresa Cooper
Gulag of the Family Courts: Jack Frost
A Parent’s Tale: Jane Webb
Afternoon Session: Open Mike and Q&A;Mums & Dads
Way Ahead: All (Faciliator Brian Gerrish)
Costs: The cost of the venue is £300 which we ask is covered by a small entry charge / donation. We realise many people are on very limited budgets and ask that people give what they can.
NB: Precise timings and order of speakers to be announced nearer the
On 9th Apr 2010 at 10:42 PM Yvonne Stewart-Taylor said...
Friday, 5 March 2010
February 12th 2008: The day on which alarm bells should have started ringing in Stafford.
The disaster in Stafford is about so much more than a hospital ( and it is not just Stafford) This is a nation wide problem of deep rooted corporate corruption and barbaric practices carried out for money incentives our government is horrendous and does not care about how many innocent families are destroyed.
In January 2008, Daily Mail columnist Sue Reid reported as follows (my emphases):
‘The number of babies under one month old being taken into care for adoption is now running at almost four a day (a 300 per cent increase over a decade)...critics of the Government’s policy are convinced that the vast majority are taken by force.
Time and again, the mothers say they are innocent of any wrongdoing....Of course, there are people who are not fit to be parents....(but) over the five years since I began investigating the scandal of forced adoptions, I have found a deeply secretive system which is too often biased against basically decent families.
I have been told of routine dishonesty by social workers and questionable evidence given by doctors which has wrongly condemned mothers...millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money has been given to councils to encourage them to meet high Government targets on child adoptions.’
For much of the last fortnight, The Slog has devoted time and space to putting greater and more flesh on Sue Reid’s serious allegations.
‘For a mother,’ Reid concluded, ‘there can be no greater horror than having a baby snatched away by the State at birth’. The Mail’s campaigner cannot have known how prescient this observation would prove to be....and how quickly the implied danger would come horribly to life.
Almost exactly a month later on February 12th, 28 year-old Willow Simpson was found by staff at St George’s Hospital, Stafford, hanging from the window in her room. An internal investigation concluded she ‘could have been saved had staff checked on her overnight’. But that was a hopelessly superficial attempt to pin the death on a front-line worker - somebody outrageously underpaid who was doubtless working an overlong shift.
Because the reality is that Miss Simpson had been told only a few days earlier that her son was being forcibly adopted, and she was unlikely to see him again.
The distraught mother had a meeting with social workers. And at that meeting on February 7, Willow was told she would have to apply for access to see him; that this would probably be denied..and there was nothing she could do to stop the proceedings.
Women with kids in Stafford are far too often told by arrogant social workers that there is ‘nothing they can do’.
As we’ve seen from numerous Slog articles about Stafford this week, the local, vocal protesters dismiss Stafford hospital internal inquiries as whitewashing cover-ups. In the light of what has happened since 2008, this writer finds it almost impossible to disagree.
But what this penultimate piece on the topic shows is more broadly damning: and when it comes to socially challenged places like Stafford (Plymouth and Liverpool are no different, they just haven’t reached crisis point yet) there is no such thing as ‘the hospital problem’ or ‘the single mothers problem’ or ‘the mental health problem’.
The problem is that a disintegrating social culture in Stafford has met a corrupt, cynical, underfunded and muddled culture of treatment and justice.
Take for example the summing up by Coroner Haigh - a man we have come across quite a bit this week. He said:
“..it is clear Miss Simpson killed herself, but she was more upset than she appeared after the meeting with social workers, and it may have been a cry for help...”
Dear oh dear oh dear. How did Mr Haigh know how upset Willow ‘seemed’ after she saw the social workers? And do people making a cry for help hang themselves after locking the door of her room?
This ‘conclusion’ is not only daft, it is disgracefully dismissive of a life avoidably lost.
But nobody lost their jobs as a result of this case. And none of the social workers involved were either investigated or censured. It’s hard to find out who they even were. What we do know is that yet another Management-Speak drone called Amanda Godfrey added her two-pennorth of drivel to Haigh’s summation. This lady - a manager in the NHS Trust since shown to be the most derelict in the history of public medicine - had this to say:
“Any untoward incident is thoroughly investigated in line with our procedures, and the Trust endeavours to learn from and improve services as a result of such events.
As an organisation, we also welcome the opportunity to receive feedback from users of our services, their carers and families and take their views very seriously.”
Words fail me.