Please see the RPSSUK Editorial Comment at the bottom

(Filed: 01/06/2004)

Few parents whose children have been taken into care are likely to have them returned, according to a study carried out by the Radio 4 Today programme.

The finding follows a landmark ruling last year in which the Court of Appeal quashed the convictions of Angela Cannings for murdering two of her babies.

Judges raised doubts about the reliability of expert evidence in the case, prompting a review of 250 similar murder convictions involving children under two.

In February, Margaret Hodge, the children's minister, also ordered a review of civil as well as criminal cases where the expert evidence was disputed.

Mrs Hodge said she expected the number of cases in which previous rulings would be overturned would be manageable, peaking at the "low hundreds".

However she left social service departments, which handle these type of cases, to review their own decisions.

Researchers for Today contacted 149 local authorities in England to discover whether they would be re-opening any cases in the light of the minister's ruling.

Only 47 per cent of those contacted responded and, of those, 52 councils (74 per cent) said they would not be re-opening any of the cases.

Of the remaining 18 local authorities, nine said that none of the cases they had reviewed so far would be re-opened. Only two would not rule out the possibility.

Three said cases resting on disputed evidence had been resolved in the courts, although no care orders have been lifted as a result.

Only one in 10 brought in an independent agency to help with the review.

Allan Levy QC, an expert in child law, said the results were disturbing and suggested it was wrong to ask local authorities to judge their own decisions.

"We must search for these cases. There are serious miscarriages out there," he said.

"Is it OK for somebody to say, 'Our hearts are in the right place, we got it right?' I am afraid the history of the last few years is that many of the 150 local authorities got it very wrong indeed."

Mrs Hodge warned families not to raise their hopes about having adoption cases re-opened, saying families would be offered compensation for the miscarriage of justice.

Local authorities must apply to the courts to obtain and dispense with care orders.

Editorial Comment: Well there it is, Social Services departments admit they will not address their evil miscarriages of justice, the government will offer COMPENSATION!!!! What lunacy is this?

WHY AGAIN ARE SOCIAL SERVICES ALLOWED TO POLICE THEMSELVES - ITS LIKE ASKING AN ARMED ROBBER TO ACT AS HIS OWN JUDGE AND JURY - WHEN WILL THE GOVERNMENT WAKE UP TO THE FACT THAT SOCIAL SERVICE DEPARTMENTS CANNOT AND WILL NOT INDEPENDANTLY POLICE THEMSELVES IN ANY WAY, SHAPE OR FORM!

There must be a law change to criminalise this sort of event, it is in all effect a form of legal kidnapping and has been allowed to happen for time forgotten. This sort of fiasco should be dealt with and anyone associated with it PREVENTED from further working with children.

After all abuse is abuse, whether from a source close to the child or from the social services but who is going to bring the lawmakers to justice? Who will restrain social workers in yet more evident cases of cock-up, malicious or other form of malpractice or just for being damned bloody useless

Help a UK child - Sack a social worker today!

RPSSUK