When Poppy Adams was asked by a therapist to pick from a pile of toys the character she felt best represented her birth mother, the 12-year-old chose a Disney princess. Asked the same about her social worker, she selected a snake. “She should not have taken me away from my mother,” said Poppy, who had always idolised her birth mother,…
There are very serious questions raised by your article (Rising adoptions penalise poor families but don’t cut numbers in care, says report, 19 January). The implications suggest a link between increasing levels of poverty and increasing numbers of children being adopted without the consent of their parents. By coincidence, the issues were discussed last week at our Research Advisory Group, which…
“We don’t say the A-word here anymore,” a social worker once told me when I dared to ask why there are hardly any adoptions in Australia. But, with our foster care system in crisis, it’s time to talk about an alternative option for the increasing number of children removed from their home due to abuse or neglect. Adoption is so…
Rosalind Powell, with her husband, Harry, adopted 14-year-old Gabriel when he was two*. 1. Know your limits. Embarking on the adoption process is exciting, scary, intense and emotional. Most of the children up for adoption have been taken away from their birth parents and come through the care system, having possibly experienced abuse or neglect. You will hear stories that…
Clause 15 of the children and social work bill is eliciting much comment and criticism from the social care sector. The clause, in the words of the children’s minister, Edward Timpson, seeks to: Allow great social workers to try out new approaches and be freed from limiting bureaucracy, all in the interests of achieving more for children. But, according to…
Ilona, 20, came to Britain from Hungary two years ago to make a better life for herself, and has worked as a hotel chambermaid. An attempt to get a late abortion brought her to the attention of children’s social services. She told social workers that she and her partner did not have the financial means to look after their daughter…