Hello
FranLyon
This board is for discussion about the issues raised, or that are
related to, those covered by the Asking for a Chance website.
These are deeply powerful, emotive and distressing issues but
nonetheless I hope it's possible for calm discussion to prevail and
for everyone to have a chance to truly air the facts of these
situations.
Thanks,
Fran (& Molly)
Sociable
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/mbouch/F2322273?thread=4531378
In addition to our discussion about your own case I have also recently
submitted the following to the DRC for publication on the DRC
Disability Agenda website:
DRC Comment: By Peter Farrington DRC Forum Member.
Picking up on what is perhaps, after the right to life itself, the
most fundamental of the human rights which is of course the right to
found a family I am alarmed at the lack of comment by the DRC about
the recent stories in the press concerning the forced adoption of Fran
Lyon's unborn child.
This report reads like something one would expect to only read about
in text books detailing how badly the mentally ill and those with
learning difficulties were treated in the dim and distant past.
See: http://www.gm.tv/index.cfm?articleid=26789
Surely in the post DDA and DED world things like this can't still
happen, or can they?
For obvious reasons I can't give details, but I have spent the last
year and bit trying to help another young mother who has mild learning
difficulties gain the right to at least have a chance to be a full-
time mother to her baby, which was placed in care shortly after the
birth because of concerns about what "might" happen rather than as a
result of anything which had actually happened.
Sadly such cases are becoming all too common and raise serious issues
about the application of not only the DDA and DED duty Social Services
have to such mothers, but also the mother's fundamental rights
enshrined in the Human Rights Act itself.
A model of best practice is available, but rarely used, as detailed in
the research paper "Finding the Right Support", from the Norah Fry
Research Centre based at the University of Bristol, which suggests a
planned cooperative approach may well lead to successful outcomes in
such cases not least for the children involved themselves.
As a qualified social worker who trained in child protection I have to
confess I am ashamed of the actions of the social workers in the case
I am involved in and for the first time am truly happy I am no longer
able to work in such an environment where such lack of respect for the
individuals concerned is possible.
In the case I am talking about the only issue is a learning difficulty
that is so borderline that the individual concerned does not even
qualify for support from Social Services in their own right for that
learning difficulty despite having been in care for other reasons for
most of her early life.
The point I have made is that her needs for support as a mother and
not just as an adult are being completely ignored. If nothing else
they owe her such support having taken over responsibility for her as
"parents" until she was 18.
The one single thing that defines British justice is that one is
presumed innocent until proved guilty, but sadly for those of us with
disabilities, and especially where mental health or learning capacity
is involved, the sad fact is we are often treated as being guilty
until we are proven guilty or as in this situation simply deprived of
the possibility of proving our lack of guilt.
Peter Farrington aka "Sociable"
N.B. My own article at the DRC is the one entitled: "Nothing About Us
Without Us?"
http://www.disabilityagenda.org/discussion/comment/nothing_about_us_without_us.aspx
Keith
I am so sorry to hear of the situation you find yourself in.
My wife and I were in a similar situation with our own daughter so I
empathise with your greatly.
If ever you want to talk please do get in touch.
Hang in there OK
Take care, Keith
DARET...@aol.com
Fran Lyon
I thought there could be nothing more terrifying than your first
pregnancy. No matter if the baby is planned or not. As a mother of
eight children and having had seven pregancies (one being twins), I
remember all too well how nervous I was, watching what I ate, what I
drank, etc holding my breath whilst midwives checked the heartbeat of
every unborn child, straining to look for anything that could be wrong
when I was being scanned, even when in labour, having been told that
your baby's fine, you still have feelings of dread and questions of
what if .... it isn't until that baby is safely in our arms, all
fingers and toes accounted for, all the initial checks done that you
finally begin to relax.
How wrong I was, it was 8 years ago when I first got involved in a
case in which a baby had been snatched at birth, not because of any
abuse, not because mother had done anything wrong, snatched on an
assumption that mother may, yes may harm the baby, because she may
have MSbP. This was when the world of Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy
became Alice in Wonderland.
The case is a precedent, it is the case of P C & S, these parents went
onto win in Europe, they won the right for other parents not to be
subjected to the same thing, according to the European Courts of Human
Rights, this family's rights were violated in the most draconian
manner, they were punished for a crime that had not even taken place,
the sentence, that of life, life without ever seeing their child grow
up. A life of wondering how that child was fairing, what she looks
like, what her favourite food is, what her favourite toys were, a life
without ever being able to kiss their child goodnight, read them a
story, watch the wonderment on their child's face as she saw her first
real elephant or paddled in the sea. All of this of course took years
and during the years of fighting, not for themselves, but for others
we lost more babies at birth who were then adopted out. It got to the
point where I would no longer attend appeals with the parents, I felt
like I was failing them, however the emotional impact of watching
family after family destroyed was becoming more and more unbearable,
if that's how it made me feel, as the bystander, I can't invisage what
it must have been like for the parents.
The most terrifying thing in the world is being pregnant with your
first child and having the state hovering over you like vultures, just
waiting to take that precious life from you as soon as it is born. The
effect of the stress this creates for mother and child is yet to be
studied, it most certainly isn't in the best interests of the unborn
baby is it?
What was the point of P C & S? Nothing changed, not really, their case
is quoted by the lawyers representing parents who may harm their child
once it's born, the local authorities just change the goal posts and
even if the mother is cleared of having any mental health problems or
of being a threat, it's taken so long everyone turns around and says
that it's too late, your baby has been placed for adoption and it's in
the baby's best interest to leave it there.
What is even more sinister in Fran's case is the fact that, the state
propose to take a child because the mother herself had been a vicitm
of abuse, child physical abuse and a stranger rape. Fran, unlike many
vicitms of abuse, got the help she needed when she became mentally ill
as a result of this abuse and seven years ago was given a clean bill
of mental health, that should have been the end of it, if you had had
childhood cancer, undergone therapy and come through the otherside and
given the all clear, it would have been the end of it. Not so, clearly
for mental illness, there is no cure, according to the state, if you
have been an abuse vicitm, you are going to abuse your child, so we're
going to take it, even if every professional who has ever been
involved in your care states that you are "normal" no different to
anyone else in the street.
Beware victims of any abuse, don't tell, don't ever tell, because if
you do the state are going to come and get your babies, the very same
state that did nothing to protect you, by proxy, will act in the "best
interests of the child".
PENNY MELLOR CAMPAIGNER AGAINST FALSE ALLEGATIONS
Freebir...@aol.com
Freebird
FranLyon
I'm going to update the website either tonight or tomorrow with the
latest details, and some more press links.
Being in contact with you all, and knowing you're there means a very
great deal - thank you.
Freebird - I truly am thinking of you and baby Free, if there is
anything at all I can do please do let me know.
Fran
On 3 Sep, 00:27, Freebird230...@aol.com wrote:
> In a message dated 9/3/2007 00:17:04 GMT Standard Time, DARETOCA...@aol.com
> _http://www.fassit.co.uk/freebird_cruel_injustice.htm_
> (http://www.fassit.co.uk/freebird_cruel_injustice.htm)
>
> Freebird
>
> 000_glitterbird.jpg
> 41KViewDownload
Sociable
Just a very quick update to my first post to confirm the DRC have now
published my comments in full exactly as I detailed above:
http://www.disabilityagenda.org/discussion/comment/safer_neighbourhoods.aspx
Some additional references to the other case I am working on myself
have also been included im my later comments in response to Sir Bert
Massey's recent article on Independent Advocacy:
http://www.disabilityagenda.org/discussion/comment/role_of_advocacy.aspx#commentsanchor
And, just for good measure, I have also included copies of all the
information about your own and other cases in my own formal submission
to the Single Equalities Bill consultation, citing them as being the
worst examples of the systematic deprivatioin of human rights I have
witnessed in my professional career to date.
Peter
Sociable
Hi Fran,
Just wanted to wish you all the best for tomorow.
We will all be thinking of you.
Peter