Comments on: Times newspaper today

By: Eleanor Robertson

Eleanor Robertson — Mon, 16 Mar 2015 23:51:46 +0000

I personally feel that Barnados comments are all paying lip service to support..speaking from my personal experience with them.. They were supportive..In terms of being on the end phone..however failed to challenge or offer help to challenge the appalling, unprofessional, lack of understanding that was social work dept.To me, they were .reluctant to bite the hand that feeds them..from what I can gather from staff at Barnados workers, It am not the first parent to experience this treatment by a social worker or indeed social services as a whole.. I feel something needs to change. I need help to know how to start this change.

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By: Cheryl Emmanuel

Cheryl Emmanuel — Mon, 09 Mar 2015 18:33:09 +0000

Hi Claire,

I just want to say that you have my support and sympathy. It’s a shame your ‘friend’ was so judgmental. You are to be congratulated for trying in my book.

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By: wishvintage

wishvintage — Mon, 09 Mar 2015 13:33:27 +0000

Claire, I read the article today and just wanted to leave a comment expressing our support and understanding. We went through the process a few years ago in our home county. Having been quite clear about what we wanted we went through to adopt three children. SS put us on a course about multiple adoptions and everyone there urged us to see their files before introductions. Much to the dislike of our SW’s we saw the files that clearly said 3 times that the children should not be placed in our county because of issues with a parent. We raised this and were told things had changed and not to worry. One of the reports was 1 month old. The lies continued until we decided to pull out. SS had clearly decided that because of our jobs (at the time we were police officers) we would be able to cope with the mother when she tracked us down. We felt that this was not the environment those children should be placed in – they should feel safe and once she turned up no matter how well we dealt with it they would never feel safe again. Our decision continues to haunt us three years later. We still know it is for the best for those children but we can not believe the lengths that the social workers would go to to get the children placed. It was also apparent in the files that the children’s social worker had gone off sick for a substantial period of time and the children had effectively been forgotten in the care system. The response of many of our friends was of horror that we had pulled out. I remember one “friend” saying that they would have moved to another county to make it work! How guilty did that make me feel! I had never met these children and our work and families were in this county – how would I have got another job? It really is that saying about not judging until you’ve walked a mile in someones shoes isn’t it and yet people do judge you and it hurts. We struggled just from getting this far and not from bringing up real children and putting your heart into it. So I really wanted to write and say hello and thank you for sharing your story. There’s a lot of us that you will have helped.

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By: Peter Smith

Peter Smith — Mon, 09 Mar 2015 10:15:25 +0000

Dear Claire,
I read this story and felt nothing but sympathy for you. Thank you for your courage in telling it, AS you can see the Times online forum is the usual split of rubbish and support, but most people seem to fall on your side.

You clearly have a lot of love to give, hopefully your life will turn around positively.

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By: Sally Chamier

Sally Chamier — Mon, 09 Mar 2015 09:38:28 +0000

Dear Claire, as a retired social worker I can imagine what you’ve been through. My heart goes out to you. I admire your courage in being so open and ready to offer support to others. It’s very badly needed.

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