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                                           Times Report On My Family Below. (Plus Comments.)

The family say a report describing the father as an extremist was “flawed”

David Brown

Published at 12:01AM, March 16 2013

As their son was sent to a secure hospital this week after admitting a terrorism charge over a threat to carry out a school massacre, his parents held each other’s hands tightly.

But the sentencing of the 16-year-old was actually one of the least traumatic experiences of the turmoil that has ripped apart their idyllic rural life since his arrest a year ago.

The parents say that as the result of social workers’ intrusion into their lives, they lost their home, had to flee abroad and had their new baby seized 30 minutes after his birth.

Their torment began with a raid by armed police on their Northamptonshire home in February last year after a tip-off from the FBI. Their son, then aged 15, had told a stranger on an internet chatroom that he was planning to shoot as many children as possible at his school before turning a gun on himself.

Police found school exercise books containing classroom seating plans indicating those children he would shoot and those who would be spared. He had bought two explosive substances and 20 terrorist manuals over the internet.

Birmingham Youth Court heard on Monday that his parents had pleaded with social workers for help when their son was 10 because of his odd behaviour but it was only after his arrest that he was diagnosed as having Asperger’s, a form of autism.

At the time of the police raid the boy’s mother was five months pregnant and she became concerned when social workers suddenly began investigating the family.

The father admits that they resented the intrusion, saying: “We didn’t co-operate, as we felt that there was no significant issue to warrant a shift of emphasis from my teenage son onto the unborn baby.”

As a result, a report by social workers in May last year concluded: “The distrust and absolute scepticism expressed by [the parents] toward the authorities paints a concerning picture not only for the return of [their son] but also for the emotional welfare of their unborn child.”

Social workers also accused the parents of “neglect” because they had asked to minimise scans of their unborn baby, said the father. The couple say that they had particular concerns about their baby’s health as their first son had died 18 years ago of sudden infant death syndrome.

They fled to the Republic of Ireland before their new baby was born. But as a result of a report from Northamptonshire Social Services warning that their unborn child was “at risk of significant harm”, the baby was taken into care. They are battling in the Irish courts to get their son back.

The family, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, say they have had to sell their house and while the mother spends most of the time in Ireland to be close to their baby, the self-employed father lives with a friend in England so he can continue working. Their elder daughter has moved in with her grandparents while she continues her education.

The parents claim that the social services report was flawed, describing the father as a “political extremist” who stood for election for UKIP and was a “Holocaust denier”.

The father says that although he was a UKIP member for a year, he stood for election as a Green and joined peaceful demonstrations against experiments on animals. He strenuously denies being a Holocaust denier. He also denies that during the last conversation with a British social worker he threatened to kill the baby when it was born.

A spokesman for Northamptonshire County Council said: “We are unable to comment on any individual child protection cases.”

25 comments

David Brown

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Ross

6 days ago

An abominable story. “distrust and absolute scepticism toward the authorities” is perfectly natural and logical and ought not to have any repercussions.

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Mr Ronald Payne

6 days ago

For many years council and similar organsatrions vacancies have been filled not by the best qualified applicant but by one that fits the PC  requirement for gender, ethnicity etc. This has resulted in recruiting unsuitable people in the wrong jobs.

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Dolly Sharif

6 days ago

That’s the social workers job – to destroy families & children.

What happens after they take these children away? these kids end up on Manchester streets, unloved & uncared & destroyed.

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Edward O’Brien

6 days ago

I will say first of all that I completely believe the parents in this article by David Brown, and I admire the detached reporting of this family’s traumatic experiences. I am also sickened when one realises the family has little or no recourse to justice.

The treatment of this family ranks alongside the Nazi treatment of the mentally ill, except it is – for want of a better word – inverse. What concerns me most, and always has, is the apparent low intelligence of so many social workers. This family is the victim of a report by a social worker more than likely with an IQ way below the average. That report is then jumped on by others with questionable intelligence who see a mother and father’s objections to, and or rejection of, their interference as a sign of irresponsibility, and even take personal umbrage.

The family seeking help from them in the first instance and not getting any highlights this sad state of affairs. Social workers’ patronising and condescending attitude when investigating families is the stuff of legend. This family was unlucky. They clearly did not have the services of an intelligent social worker. With intelligence, a good social worker would, I believe, have sympathised, weighed the priorities and brought the family onside before delving more deeply. Had that happened, it is very unlikely they would have been so traumatised.

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EnglishRose

6 days ago

Some social workers act like in a police state. Why should you have to kow tow to them and be nice when you have done nothing wrong. you should not have your baby taken away because you are rude to social workers or disagree with their views. They are very often wrong. What are the Irish courts doing in not returning this baby to its parents? Why can’t the mother have the child with her in Ireland or England but with supervision? It is far far too over the top simply to abduct the child into custody.

I hope the Times follows this case and the Irish courts can act very quickly as the baby needs to bond with both parents now, not in a few months’ time.

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Alan Thorpe

6 days ago

Like the photo, the article leaves us wanting more information.

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Mr T R Butchard

6 days ago

My instinct tells me that this family has been ill-used by their local authority.  Instead of focussing on the problem son, the social workers started applying their invasive, doctrinaire tactics on the parents and their unborn child. It seems disproportionate, even disgraceful, that the baby was taken into care. This is the Orwellian world we live in, where well-meaning officials can use child protection laws to subvert and ultimately destroy a family.  Why?  Because the family didn’t passively accept the aggressive and self-righteous ‘do-gooding’ that was imposed upon them.

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Dr Calum MacInnes

6 days ago

These situations are always very complicated but this article leaves many questions unanswered. Partial quotes attributed to social work are rather inflammatory.

Asperger’s does not normally result in rumination/ideation of multiple homicide.

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Geoff Bowles

6 days ago

@Dr Calum MacInnes   No, it certainly doesn’t; but I can tell you from experience that teenage boys with Asperger’s are a worry.  I don’t know why they sought help in the first place from social workers, when I was concerned over my son’s behaviour I went to the doctor and was referred to an educational psychologist, who was very helpful.  The trouble is that such children tend to be targets for bullies even in the best schools, and it can be hard for parents and teachers to find out exactly what is going on.  Mine would not talk about anything resembling a feeling to anyone.  The effort to find out and help is worth it, though.  They are probably more likely to harm themselves than anyone else, but they really need the love and support they appear to reject.

On a more positive note, he was an absolutely delightful child when younger, apart from temper tantrums; he saw the world in a quite different way, and I found his mind fascinating.  And in his early twenties he finally came out of his shell and is now a successful scientist; his inclination to perfectionism is an asset in his work.

I wonder whether the social workers believed the long-discredited theory that autism is caused by a lack of emotional warmth in the mother?  This was finally proved false around 1990, when the data that appeared to support the theory were found to have been falsified, but the idea still persists among the half-educated.  Whatever their reasoning, they have far too much power.  If the court case had been in England rather than Ireland, no media in this country would have been allowed to report any of this.  Secret justice, being totally open to abuse, is no justice at all, and our family courts are a sickening example of this.

Bernadette Bowles

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Dr Calum MacInnes

6 days ago

@Geoff Bowles @Dr Calum MacInnes  I agree that especially prior to diagnosis that the behaviour can cause significant worry. Diagnosis at least gives a reason behind the behaviour and  management can be planned. What is important is, as yousay with your son, that these young people can go on to very successful careers given the opportunity. Thank you for your comment as I believe that the more this problem is put out into the open, the better long term outcome for these children (of today) will be.

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Mrs Julia Pomeroy

6 days ago

@Dr Calum MacInnes “Asperger’s does not normally result in ……….. ” what? I thought it was cows which ruminated and the other word defeats me entirely.

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Dr Calum MacInnes

6 days ago

@Mrs Julia Pomeroy @Dr Calum MacInnes  Sorry for the medical jargon!!!  Rumination in psychological terms means to go over and over again in ones mind, rather like in a vicious circle. The patient’s becomes thinking becomes disordered and over focused on the idea.

Ideation…in medical terms suggests a disorder of thought such as ‘ those people are out to get me’. A thought process which would not be seen as ‘normal’ by the general run of humanity.

As I said, sorry for the jargon!

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michael floyd

4 days ago

@Dr Calum MacInnes @Mrs Julia Pomeroy —don’t apologise for your precise excellent definitions Dr. MacInnes—at least one is derived from the Bard himself in 1623:

” In which my often rumination wraps me in a most humorous sadnesse ” (As You Like It, IV i 18)

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Miss Suzanne Phillips

6 days ago

Whether we get a balanced picture or not there is what purports to be a quote from an official report which says in terms that expressions of distrust and scepticism towards authorities are good reasons for fearing damage to the emotional welfare of an unborn child.  A moment’s thought will show that this is a non sequitur.  Yet significant decisions are taken on the basis of such flawed reasoning.

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Geoff Bowles

6 days ago

@Miss Suzanne Phillips   From other things I have read, this seems to be a very common reason for taking children from their parents.  Until our family courts are opened up to proper scrutiny, this abuse of position will continue.

Bernadette Bowles

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Mrs Julia Pomeroy

6 days ago

@Miss Suzanne Phillips And can you blame the parents for being so distrustful?

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Beech

6 days ago

I suspect there is far more to this story than is communicated in this article….

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Dollybird

7 days ago

Of cause they would look into the family history, these issues are serious and are often reflective past experiences and family dysfunction. Hmm!!

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Geoff Bowles

6 days ago

@Dollybird  Asperger’s is not reflective of family disfunction but of neurological disfunction; the cause is not yet known, but may be a combination of a genetic weakness with infection in the womb or in very early life.  You are thinking of a theory that was discredited 30 years ago and totally disproved 20 years ago, when it was found that its leading proponent had falsified his data.  However, it resulted in many autistic children being denied effective help, and a great deal of suffering for the families.

We are told that “a report by social workers in May last year concluded: “The distrust and absolute scepticism expressed by [the parents] toward the authorities paints a concerning picture not only for the return of [their son] but also for the emotional welfare of their unborn child.””  They also concluded that past membership of UKIP and standing as a candidate for the Greens made the father a political extremist.  In other words, if you don’t share the same views as the social worker, you are unfit to have a child.  This is an attitude that must be weeded out.  If they actually looked into any relevant part of the family history, such as the abortive attempt to get help for the boy when younger, we are not told of it.

Bernadette Bowles

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Nick Gooblar

6 days ago

@Geoff Bowles @Dollybird “The distrust and absolute scepticism expressed by [the parents] toward the authorities paints a concerning picture not only for the return of [their son] but also for the emotional welfare of their unborn child.”

Just who the hell do these people think they are? I have never had any professional dealings with social workers, but have come across some in social settings. Some are level headed, but fit the old saying of being lions led by donkeys.

Others think they know best and go about with their noses in the air and a sneer on their mouth. If they came into my house, I would count the silver before they left.

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Geoff Bowles

6 days ago

@Nick Gooblar @Geoff Bowles @Dollybird  Certainly it is not all of them.  My sister-in-law was a social worker for years, but took early retirement as she felt that best practice was not being followed in too many cases.  That is the problem with many of our public services – the really committed and experienced workers despair of being allowed to do the job properly and leave, while what we are left with are those who chase targets and paperwork rather than truly helping people.  While they are never held accountable, no matter what disasters they cause, things cannot improve.

Bernadette Bowles

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Mrs Julia Pomeroy

6 days ago

@Geoff Bowles @Dollybird Do you ever have a feeling that you are baying at the moon and nobody, least of all social workers, is going to listen to you? As someone who has very, very mild autism which was, of course, not diagnosed in the 50s I feel greatly for the family, and  also the boy, he will experience a great deal of pain from the way people reject him because he is not exactly the same as anybody else. Sometimes if you are the slightest bit different from everybody else you certainly learn to empathise with the lowest chicken in the pecking order.

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Mrs Julia Pomeroy

6 days ago

@Dollybird So if your child is discovered to have autism of Asperger’s syndrome you can expect to be investigated by Social Services then hmm? I presume you are a social worker?