The state has a terrible secret: it kidnaps our children | Louise Tickle | Opinion | The Guardian

The state has a terrible secret: it kidnaps our children | Louise Tickle | Opinion | The Guardian

'High court judge Mr Justice Keehan, in a scathing judgment earlier this year at Nottingham family court, revealed that at least 16 children have been "wrongly and abusively" looked after by Herefordshire council, under something called a section 20 arrangement, for "wholly inappropriate" periods of time. For one boy, that was the first nine years of his life after he was born to his 14-year-old mother. For another boy it was eight years, from the age of eight to 16, despite his mother on several occasions withdrawing her consent. Shockingly, at the time of the judgment, 14 children were still being wrongfully looked after by Herefordshire on section 20 arrangements, despite the local authority knowing full well the judge's displeasure.

'These are not court orders. They must be a voluntary agreement, and in legal terms they precisely mirror the situation where the single parent consented (at first) to her friend looking after her boys. For a section 20 to be legal, social workers must be certain they have a parent's informed consent to their child being accommodated by the state. And a parent can withdraw consent at any time, because they keep full parental responsibility. If Mum or Dad wants to turn up at a foster carer's house at midnight without notice and take their child home, they can. No ifs, no buts. But many parents say social workers threaten that if they do, it will mean a trip to court for a care order. There is no surer way to scare the living daylights out of a parent. And so frightened acquiescence - not the same as consent - tends to be the result.'