Family

No matter how imperfect parents may be, placing children for adoption outside their natural families is always a last resort. The Court of Appeal made that point in the case of an illegal immigrant father who callously used his two young children as puppets in an attempt to maximise his benefits. The father, who had never had any right to be in Britain, took the view that it was a local authority’s duty to wholly provide for him and his family. He had, amongst other things, threatened to jump off a bridge with his children unless the council provided him with a new home and financial support at the level he demanded. Making use of the children to put pressure on the council, he kept them off school and hid them in cupboards to evade social workers. He also made wholly ... Read more