Posted: 06 September 2006 | Subscribe Online

Writes Sally Gillen

Calls for Haringey social workers to be sacked after baby is snatched

Haringey Council social workers allegedly "snatched" a child from outside his foster home in London while he was playing with friends, less than two hours after his carer lost her fight for guardianship.

Neighbours of the foster carer, who had looked after the child, known as Baby C, for 16 months, told Community Care their own children were traumatised by the way they claim he was removed by force last month.

One said: “I didn’t see what happened because I was inside but I heard lots of shouting and the foster carer was shouting ‘Do not push me, do not push me. There is no need for that’. I could hear the baby screaming ‘mummy, mummy’.

“Then the kids came running in saying a ‘naughty lady has taken him away’.”

Another neighbour, who was returning home, said she saw the foster carer being pulled and pushed by a woman, and another woman rushed past her carrying the screaming boy and ran up the street with him to a nearby car.

More than 150 of the carer’s neighbours have signed a petition calling for the sacking of the social workers involved and the council’s director of Haringey children’s services, Sharon Shoesmith.

The boy was trafficked into the UK and approved for adoption in July. His foster carer had applied for a special guardianship order but was unsuccessful. She lost her appeal against the High Court decision last month. But Lord Justice Wall said the boy’s transition from the carer to his adoptive family should be done with “minimum disruption”.


A Haringey Council spokesperson said it had a “full account of that day which differs very significantly from the account given and we are confident that social workers acted appropriately in difficult circumstances”.

But the council refused to explain why Baby C was removed from his placement so quickly after the court judgment or how the events of the day were different from what is alleged by neighbours.

Haringey reverses gains

The reputation of social workers looks set to take another knock this week with claims that a small child was forcibly removed from his foster mother outside their home in less than 2 hours after a judge urged that the case be dealt with sensitively.
You can just predict the tabloid headlines slamming the "child snatchers"- a highly emotive phrase, of course, but it's easy to see why the media reach for such slogan when events unfold in this way.
Last month the foster carer lost her fight for guardianship of a boy she had cared for more than 16 months. Although the judge recognised the emotional bond between the two, he approved the council's decision to place him for adoption. So far, so good, but why was it necessary for the social workers in this case to act so precipitately? The authority maintains that the staff behaved correctly but without evidence that the child was in imminent risk it is difficult to see how such action could have been in line with best practice.
After being trafficked to this country, the only stability that baby C has known in his short life is with this foster carer.
Evidently, the judge recognised that it would be impossible for the two not to have become attached after living together for such a lengthy time.
Yet, social workers apparently thought it's acceptable to end that relationship abruptly with no transitional period in which they could both adjust. The foster mother has not seen the child since.
After the criticism Haringey came in following the Victoria Climbie's case the authority had done much to restore it's reputation, but sadly this case casts a shadow on both that council and social work in general at a time when General Social Care Council is doing everything it can to raise its profile as skilled profession.
There needs to be an independent inquiry in to the handling of this case. At the very least Haringey council must give a full explanation of its social worker's action-otherwise they will lay themselves open to accusations of abuse of power.CC