Forced Adoption – is that right?

MP John Hemming on 13 December indicated that he believed that there were up to 1,000 children a year in England being adopted for the wrong reasons and were being taken wrongfully from their families. He argued that the threshold for removing children from their families was often too low resulting in children being removed from their family in contravention of their right to family life. He is arguing in Parliament for an inquiry into secret court decisions.

He argues that on occaisions the court makes decisions based on a low level of evidence of harm and believes that once a child is removed from their parents it is very difficult for their parents to get them back. This is the first real argument against Martin Narey who has recently been appointed as a Ministerial Advisor on adoption. Martin Narey's view is the number of adoptions are too low and should be increased by approximately 50% a year. Martin Narey was asked to comment upon Mr Hemming's views that 1,000 adoptions were inappropriate. He said that he did not believe that in the cases that he looked into or the research that he had carried out, that there was anything to suggest that a significant proportion of those adoptions were inappropriate.

Adoption is a very serious matter and if you want any assisstance on it then please contact the Family Team at Michelmores LLP, Woodwater House, Pynes Hill, Exeter, Tel: 01392 688688