adapting my identity

Mr Justice Munby at the High Court said no baby could be removed "as the result of a decision taken by officials in some room". A voice of sanity in a web of madness. The baby boy was born healthy and taken from his 18 year old mother about two hours after his birth without any court order having been made.

Hospital staff were apparently shown a "birth plan" prepared by local authority social services. The plan said the mother, who had a troubled childhood and suffered from mental health problems, was to be separated from the child, and no contact allowed without supervision by social workers.

The judge said the removal of a child could only be lawful if a police constable was taking action to protect a child, or there was a court order in place. Mr Justice Munby said that without the appropriate order and given that the mother was still in hospital, mother and child should be reunited.
At last, Social Services have been made to follow the Queens Law and not its own law.

BBC NEWS

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The ex-girlfriend of monster Ian Huntley is PREGNANT! Maxine Carr, just five years after helping Huntley lie about murdering 10-year-olds Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman says she is overjoyed at the prospect of becoming a mum.

Carr 30, a teaching assistant at their school, was jailed for 42 months for giving Huntley a false alibi. She served just half that time and was released 2004. Carr was given a new identity by the courts and given round-the-clock protection. She has been moved to at least 10 different locations for protection since leaving jail... all at the tax payers expense.

News of Carrs pregnancy will almost certainly haunt the parents of Holly and Jessica and cause even more pain for them. She should never be allowed to have a child but this is the UK. A land where monsters can bring up children and a place where innocent families are ripped apart to meet targets and annual budgets. Something is not right.

What of Carrs baby. Whatever the feelings are towards Carr her soon to be child is an innocent. An innocent who will be brought up by the tax payers and under police protection. That is no life for a child. You can read the full story from the People Sunday paper here

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Police target child crime gangs

Police raid Slough property
The raids began before first light and into the morning
A baby less than a year old was among 10 children taken into care after a police operation targeted gangs who used youngsters to pick pockets.

Officers from several forces, including the Metropolitan Police, raided 17 addresses across Slough, Berkshire.

At least 25 adults were held, accused of immigration breaches, deception, fraud, theft and pick-pocketing.

The inquiry surrounds child trafficking from Romania and the welfare of the children involved.

Police suspect poor families in eastern Europe may be forced into allowing gangs to take their children into the UK to carry out offences such as pickpocketing and thefts near cash machines.

The gangs are believed to have taken the children into west London to commit the crimes.


A police officer takes away a child
Our main focus in this operation is on the welfare of the children who are potentially being exploited
Ruth Bagley
Slough Borough Council

The youngsters, who ranged from as young as the baby to 17 years old, are being cared for by Slough Borough Council.

Detectives will investigate whether any of them were involved in suspected offences and whether they were taken from their families and illegally trafficked into the UK.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said many of the raided properties, in the Chalvey area of the town, were "high occupancy" with large numbers of people inside.

Commander Steve Allen, of the Met Police, said the operation was about "targeting those behind organised crime networks on the streets of London and the criminal exploitation of children".

He added: "With promises of a financial return, some poor families surrender their children who are subsequently forced to commit crime.

"We continue to work closely with, and share intelligence with, the Romanian authorities."

'Reunite families'

Supt Pete Davies, of Thames Valley Police, said: "I appreciate many residents would have woken up to a rather large police presence in Chalvey this morning, however it is our intention to ensure that any disruption is kept to a minimum.

"Members of the neighbourhood policing team are on duty and will be able to address local concerns."

Officials from Slough Borough Council accompanied police on the planned intelligence-led raids.

Ruth Bagley, chief executive of the council, said: "Our main focus in this operation is on the welfare of the children who are potentially being exploited.

"We will ensure that any children who are presented to the council, receive the appropriate level of care, and efforts will be made to reunite them with their families."

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Balthous Galtricia was two years of age when she was stabbed to death by her mother in 2007. Just six days earlier Social Services had cleared her mother as fit to care for her.

Balthous had not been on the child protection register and was not in care. Social services were not involved with the child at all even though her mother was a patient of the Mental Health Trust.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=475243&in_page_id=1770&ct=5

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Lois Lazenby was two years and three months old when she died on 8 November 2004

John Charles Rees QC, prosecuting, said: "The little girl was systematically abused, tortured and ultimately killed.
"When she died she was found to have 13 fractures to various parts of her body, a cigarette burn, crushing injuries to both her hands and numerous bruises to her head, body and limbs.

Little Lois was on the child protection register, Protection that never materialised as she was being shook so hard that she suffered a brain hemorrhage and died two days later. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/7049529.stm

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Tony Blair should not be president of Europe, two former French leaders have declared in response to the backing the former prime minister has been given by Nicolas Sarkozy, the president of France. Bravo and well said.

How on earth Tony Blair could even be mentioned in the same breath as EU is beyond me. For him to be President of Europe would be an insult, not only to the children of the UK, who he has failed miserably, but the rest of Europe.

In ten years Mr Blair did absolutely nothing to change the UKs opt out status, once again believing the UK superior to all and so retaining it's special status in the fields of justice and home affairs.

We need to send Mr. Blair exactly where he has sent so many of our children and that is 'the road to nowhere' and hopefully take his friend and allie Mr Bush with him.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/01/18/nblair118.xml

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At the end of the last year I was ready to give up. Not kill myself. Just give up. I was sick of how I was feeling, I was hurting proper bad. My eating disorder had come back with a vengeance and I just felt alone and stupid.

I don't think I will ever get over the fact that people who supposedly loved me convinced me 100% that I was borderline schizophrenic rather than be honest with me and also allow me to keep what where in fact memories. I often have to stop and remind myself that I am not nuts and that people are not noticing that I am (hard to explain). Christmas gave me a much needed wake up call. My daughter had asked me what her friend had said when she called at the house few days earlier. I couldn't remember word for word but told her she was going to call again on xmas day.Ten minutes later my daughter came back in and asked me if I was sure that she had said xmas day. That was it. My head started working over time. Questions, questions, questions. Had she said xmas day or had i imagined it. As quick as I went into 'disguise my panic' mode I was snapped back out of it... By my daughter. 'mum switch ya head off cos ya not mad she probably did say that'.What a fuck up! My own daughter having to remind me I'm not mad (or ever was). That's just not right. My weight was 6st 1lb I cried more than I smiled and instead of time healing me it was consuming me. Why, What for? A past I can never change. I know I wont be able to control those lapses in believing in myself over night, God I have lived since I was 16 trying to avoid people from noticing and knowing I was mad , in fact I had done such a good job of it people thought I was really level headed and had my head screwed on! fuck me though I did, I just didn't know it. However much it hurts sometimes the fact is I will never get justice and I will never have my childhood back,The two things I need. Looking at it like that tells me I am null and void because if there is a purpose to life then my purpose was a red herring and my wounds wont heal till my reason for being and purpose touch. I don't want to be null OR void. I want to be someone. I'm not asking to be any one special, just someone. Me. I just want to be me. Valid. I'm not going to give up because there is a purpose,guarded by government but a real purpose. My purpose has to be this:- The hope and possibility for healthier and happier minds for today's kids. I want politicians to start waking up and realise what pain they are storing up for our kids and actually listen and hear and above all understand that WE are the living breathing result of their false beliefs and mistakes of the past. Let them try and tell me that my hurt and the hurt of every misplaced, separated abused or mistreated child of their past is not important enough to learn from and to change. My reason:- Validation for all the children that cry inside us.

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I have been surfing the net most of the day, nothing unusual there haha... Oh... but there was! I came across something that has had me bursting out laughing ever since...

Now I have know idea who wrote this I found it on the front page of link
Family Pages. Here goes, this is it.

But oh,the laughing children,whose hearts have been set free;
when the gate swings wide to heaven,
I can take them in with me!

Sorry I am still laughing. It has struck me that maybe it's me... Maybe I am more twisted than the author! The name of the site 'forever families' (I went to it thinking it was a humorous adoptee blog) misled me (not a hard thing to do) but I quickly realised it is serious. I couldn't get past the front page for fear of wetting myself! So I know I am not supposed to find it funny. I take adoption matters very serious. In adoptee city the majority of us have a wicked sense of humour but their is an unwritten rule (not sure that's the right term... it will do) fellow adoptees can make jokes about adoption and we just 'get it' if the same thing was said in a light hearted way by a none adoptee a siren goes off in our heads! and we are genuinely offended, I'm saying we but I could well be more delusional than I think! Normally I would be highly offended to read that any child was thought of as having been scooped up from the gutter. I'm laughing again. Do people really think 'arh that's lovely' after reading such drivel haha. Please someone anyone, I don't even care if you are madder than me, please tell me you found it funny.
I have printed it off and hung it on my wall. Whenever I find myself getting too serious and deflated about adoption I will just read the poem.

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Talks in progress to make Madeleine McCann film. That is today's latest news from Guardian Unlimited.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,2237213,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=11
According to today's article Gerry and Kate McCann have been in talks with IMG and a spokes person for the McCann's has said any film made would help to replenish Maddie's fund.

So, here is where I risk the wrath of my fellow blogger's. A risk I feel is worth taking to express my thoughts. Firstly I want to say I hope with all my heart that little girl is found. I , like every body else has my own personal opinion as to what has become of her. Then again that opinion changes like the weather and the media reports. The one thing that hasn't changed is my feelings on the whole package.

Maddie has been in the news constantly since her disappearance, as she should be. As should any child who goes missing. Her parents, middle class, well educated professionals. The picture perfect family. Donations for the McCann's have poured in from everywhere. Offers to pay any legal fees have been made by the likes of Richard Branson, millionaire. Gerry McCann has said on one of his numerous Gerry McCann shows(cough) how the funds are dwindling fast. The one million pound fund pays for PR Guru Clarence Mitchel A former Foreign Office official and government spin doctor. THE LAWYERS, They are Rogerio Alves, President of the Portuguese Bar Association; Carlos Pinto de Abreu, President of the Portuguese Human Rights Committee; Angus McBride of Kingsley Napley; and Michael Caplan QC, who once defended ex-Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet against extradition. THE FORENSIC EXPERT Dan Krane, a DNA specialist from Ohio. Krane, a biology professor from Wright University in Pennsylvania, has taken part in more than 60 judgments where DNA evidence was crucial to the case. It also pays for Gerry's brother John McCann and sister Philomena McCann and their friend Esther McVey, who acts as spokesperson for the Find Madeleine Fund. John McCann has given up work to concentrate solely on the Maddie Fund. The package reads like a military honours list.

Ben Needham. 21 month old. 1991. Kos, Greece. missing. Media attention was fierce at first but quickly faded. Kerry, 19 year old single mum, had zero support Either from her Great British home land or the Greek authorities. People have made many comparisons between Maddie and Bens disappearance. They are two beautiful children, both from the UK, neither home where they belong. There the comparison ends. Ben went missing in broad daylight from the front of his home where he was being cared for by his family. Maddie went missing from her bed at night while her parents where out having a meal with friends. Just typing that sentence sounds harsh and callous, but the truth often is harsh and callous.

Any mention that it happened at night from her bed brings the sound of 'aarrh, the parents have suffered enough'. I'm sorry but NO. Maddie has suffered, it is Maddie who is missing, it is Maddie who suffered just being alone.

The treatment of the McCann's is an insult not only to the likes of Ben Needham but also to all the families in the UK suffering at the hands of our closed family courts and facing forced adoptions. If your neighbour went out tonight and you found she had left her 2 year old twins and 3 year old daughter alone in bed what would your reaction be? I would hazard a guess that outrage would be one reaction. Social Services surely would be failing in their duty to protect children if they did nothing about such young children being left alone. If Maddie was the daughter of a single unemployed mum living on a council estate claiming benefits found or not, her siblings would be in the care of Social Services by now for neglect.

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Over the past week I have been asking everyone I know one question. What is child trafficking? Everyone knew it was illegal, few actually knew why it was illegal and ashamed as I am to say it a few even said they weren't interested! The lack of interest rightly or wrongly mainly stemmed from the image they had of illegal trafficking

The UK media rarely touches on the true picture of trafficking, prefaring to distort the facts into acts of illegal imigration. Until recently our Government didn't accept its exsistance here.We care too much about children to allow it to happen here (Oh yes Mr, Minister). We hear stories now and again, stories too big to be ignored, of bodies being found in frieght containers and container lorries. Imigrants being brought illegally into the country for vast sums of money, only to end up starved of oxygen and no way of identifying them. What we dont hear is the truth or the scale of it.

If I am honest I didn't have a clue about child trafficking and how it goes diguised in the UK until Feb 2000. Victoria Climbié was 8years old when she came to the media attention. malnourishment, 128 separate injuries, 'It was the worst case of deliberate harm to a child' pathologist Dr Nathaniel Carey said he had ever seen.
As the details of Victoria's short and tragic life emerged a world I didn't know exsisted opened up. Victoria had been born 1991 in the Ivory Coast. She was the fifth of seven children, had started school at six and showed great promise. In 1998 a visiting relative offered to take Victoria back to France with her on the promise of a good education and a better future. Victoria's parents agreed to the idea and sent her off believing their daughter would have a wonderful life. It was not uncommon for families in the Ivory Coast to send children to relatives abroad for education and financial reasons.
At the time I thought it was far fetched to be expected to believe that it was an accepted and common practice for parents to willingly and happily send a child halfway around the world to live with a distant relative. I now know different. From the late 1950's the UK saw a heavy flow of welcome imigrants from Africa and the west indies. Enticed here with promises of a better life and jobs. The UK had it's own agenda if the truth be known. Cheap labour for the worst manual jobs. Many of the nigerians to settle here did the unexpected and instead of the manul labour jobs they sought careers and enriched the middle class communities. Extending their fortune and chance of education and opportunities to relatives from their home land was a natural progression within families.

Of course not all stories where sucess stories, and the economic decline in the later 1970's brought hardship and increased explotation. For some bringing a child relative here under the pretence of providing a better life was the meal ticket that they needed. Distance prevented the childs family from knowing the truth and far from a better life many children became nothing more than slaves, neglected and abused but a source of welfare benefits for the family.
It is not known whether Victorias Aunt initial intentions where genuine. She was enrolled into a school in France on first leaving the Ivory Coast but what ever the initial intention things changed when she arrived in the UK with her Aunt.

Victoria was brought to the attention of Child protection and social services on numerous occasions before her death but no one ever questioned why or how she came to be in the care of her Aunt or about her family in the Ivory Coast. Victoria was not enrolled in school for most of her time here yet that also was not questioned. Victoria's life could and should have been saved. The laws put in place to protect children were ignored by every official to come into contact with Victoria. A situation like this 'should never' happen again it was said (oh yes Mr. Minister).

It is still happening here in the UK but it isn't child trafficking! it is illegal immigrants (Oh yes Mr. Minister). Once these children have passed the age to be eligible for child benefits and cannot get jobs due to lack of education and often social isolation they are discarded. Entering the country as EU citizens, no immigration record of their arrival exists and of course they have no identifying documents. It doesn't take long living on the streets to court the attention of the authorities and for a whole new nightmare to begin. Their stories are seldom believed and they are treated like criminals.

This is the UK. This is the TRUTH. Forget the cargo containers and lorries. Children who are victims of this very real and illegal trade are inside houses, behind closed doors and very much in the UK.

The Victoria Climbie inquiry can be found http://www.victoria-climbie-inquiry.org.uk/finreport/vicstory.htm

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Over the past two years I have been to Internet adoption sites almost daily. Adoption related forums give great insight to how adoption effects people. It soon became clear that laws and issues surrounding adoption differ from country to country. One thing that surprised me was how the UK was perceived. The majority believing that the UK has no adoption problems. Well, I know from where I'm sitting there is a problem or three!
I decided to take a trip around the adoption web world with foreign eyes. It didn,t take me long to understand why the UK could be seen by some as a country that had got 'IT' right.

What has taken place in the UK is a rather clever political decoy tactic. In plain English, a sneaky, devious, corrupt way of getting what they want just by a different method..
Looking over all the discussion forums, when it comes to the UK, the majority of disgruntled adoptees who post are pre 1975 adoptees. The reason for this is simple. When adoptees where granted access to birth records in 1976 the law differed for anyone adopted prior to 1975. Instead of automatic access to records the pre 75 adoptees could only have access to records after counselling and through a social worker. What information we received was decided by the social worker. Many adoptees found that their records had either been 'misplaced' or so much had been blanked out that they were not worth having.
From 1976 the access to records meant adoptions and procedures had to be more concise (wouldn't want anyone thinking something untoward had happened). This also meant for the adoptees from 1976 onwards they didnt have the problem of finding their identity (on paper), so no grumbling on forum boards. In the late 70's Politics seemed to turn it's attention to our childrens homes. They closed all the larger homes and replaced them with much smaller run homes. These homes also became home to 'problem' kids. It wasn't long before most of the 'childrens homes' became 'young offenders' homes. It is strange to look back at those days because I didn't even notice it. We didnt have any 'childrens homes'. Lumping all the kids together in young offenders allowed the politicians to drive attention to the rise in kids wayward behaviour and away from the foster and adoption mess they had previously created..
The government tactics of new policies for dealing with young offenders worked for good while. An excellent job was being done with our young. Unfortunately (for them) the children of the eighties started to emerge as adults. As adults they started to speak of the abuse that went on in a lot of the 'homes'. They needed another ploy to deflect from the rising number of ex-care kids who had obviously been damaged by the care system.
Deflect from the damage they could not but going back to good old fashioned policies of morality without the public opinion they could. So the birth of Closed Family Courts! Adoptions could get back on track with targets and incentives. Moral policing of families could be enforced and the best part, silence of the objectors.
If the UK appears to have go 'IT' right with our kids, that is exactly what it is 'appearance'. Our adoption rate is rising. In 1995 950 adoptions took place involving children under one year of age in 2006 that number rose to 2,120.
3,700 adoptions took place in the UK in 2006. All these adoptions involved children who had been placed in care.

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More and more big name celebrities are adopting children from abroad. The media is awash with images of well known faces clutching their newly acquired children. We have heard the heart wrenching stories and how the celebrities fell in love at first sight with their children.  Hearts have been touched once again by the actions  of celebrities.

While hearts are being touched, sadly, the protection of children diminishes. Recognizing the need and understanding adoption awareness also means accepting corruption. Baby trafficking and  child abduction for adoption  is a lucrative industry. The flow of baby smuggling is nearly always between the under developed  and poorest countries to the developed countries.

The Hague Convention unilateral inter country adoption agreement was set up to protect children from  illegal adoption and stop the trafficking and selling of babies.  At the last count there were approximately 65 country members signed up to the international treaty, all working together as a central governing body.

The importance of the Hague agreement goes so much deeper than stopping the flow of human traffik. It ensures that all cross country adoptions follow the same guide lines and most importantly all documentation relating to the adoption is held safe in a governing central place. Prospective adoptive parents must all follow the same guide lines. Applying to adopt in their own country and then if accepted applying in the same manner to the country they want to adopt from.

Ensuring that adoptions are carried out this way is vital for the children, their families and the adoptive parents. Parents are interviewed to make sure they fully understand the implications of freeing their child for adoption and DNA test are carried out to ensure they are the true parents and that the child has not been abducted.  All paperwork crosses the two countries and guarantees the adoption is recognized and legal in both.

All together the country agreements halt the supply and call for trafficking. Adoptive parents will have full medical knowledge for their child and most importantly the adopted child will  when adult have access to their adoption records and true information regarding their birth, family and heritage.

How are the latest celebrity adopters damaging the international adoption efforts? Malawi, not a signed member of the Hague convention agreement. Madonna laughingly told how they had to make the adoption laws up as they went along. Malawi does have one adoption 'law'. The adoptive parents must be from Malawi or spend at least 18 months as residents of the country. Madonna and Guy spent nine days in total.

Cambodia, not a signed member of the Hague convention agreement. Ethiopia, not a member of the Hague convention agreement. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jollie chose both countries to adopt their children.

Child trafficking and illegal adoptions would fail to exist without the people eager to take these children. More and more countries are realizing the importance of protecting the rights of children and are joining the Hague convention.

It is time to ask, did these celebrities choose their countries of adoption through ignorance or did they choose them because they could take their pick with rapid collection.

Ok, so all this is old news,yadda, yadda, yadda and you probably got bored half way and stopped reading. Who wants to hear the same old thing  over and over again.   Well, not the profiteers thats for sure. The quicker the media turnover the sooner the interest dies away.

I have made my new years resolution, or is it revolution , to be  more active in fighting for changes.

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