House of Commons Hansard Debate

John Hemming (Birmingham, Yardley) (LD): This petition is an interesting one, because the driving force behind it was a great grandfather, Mr. Phil Thompson, who was bewildered as to why his great grandchildren were taken out of the family. After some difficult effort, we found out the low level of threshold that was required, and hence we have the following petition:

The Petition of the O’Gorman Family,

Declares that a case in the Family Court has highlighted an injustice in the current system. The three children of Philip O’Gorman have been put up for adoption because it is alleged one of them missed some days in school, some medical appointments were missed, they were seen to be dirty and unkempt and that they would not cooperate with social services. The family contest the allegations, and believe that neither of these allegations is sufficient to warrant children being forcibly adopted into another family. The petitioners further believe that these actions were driven by a desire to increase the numbers of children adopted rather than to protect the children concerned. The petitioners believe that the response of the authorities was totally disproportionate in this case.

The Petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urges the Government to legislate to prevent courts from accepting these arguments as sufficient cause to forcibly remove children from their birth families and ensure that parents are facilitated to contest the allegations made by the authorities

And the Petitioners remain, etc.

[P000196]