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Camden News - EXCLUSIVE by TOM FOOT
Published: 27 November 2008

‘WHY DID THEY TAKE HER AWAY?’

‘Injustice’ of teen taken from mum and put into foster care

AN independent investigation has ruled that a single mother suffered “injustice” at the hands of Camden social services when her teenage daughter was wrongly placed in foster care.
The 34-year-old woman said two lives had been left “in ruins” after her daughter was taken from her home.
The council, which is now in talks over potential damages, last night (Wednesday) admitted “maladministration”.
The mother, who lives in Kentish Town, told the New Journal: “They never asked for my consent nor did they come to me with a court order. There are the rules about placing children in care, and Camden didn’t follow them.”
Almost two years since her daughter was taken from her home, an independent review run by a panel of external experts has upheld a series of complaints against the Town Hall.
The teenage girl, now 16, is no longer in the council’s care and is believed to be living in a hostel in Camden Town.
The case can be traced back to a police call-out to the family home in February 2007. The mother found the girl, then 14, slumped in her own vomit, passed out drunk on the floor. She phoned the police and later said she had met a 20-year-old man in an internet chat-room and he had got her drunk. When officers arrived, they spotted bruising on her daughter’s arm.
Her mother said: “She told them I gave her the bruises, but that was not true, it was because she had fallen over drunk. She was just saying it because she was scared I would ground her for getting drunk. The police took her out and put her in their car.” The girl was then moved into foster care but has since left the care of Camden social services.
The woman – a housing manager who is studying for a degree and who has a son with learning difficulties – complained to the council and several of her grievances have now been upheld by an independent inquiry.
They include a complaint that Camden froze her out of discussions over her daughter’s choice of foster carers and another about the lack of attempts to reunite them.
“Throughout my daughter’s life I have done the best for her,” she said. “I have held down three jobs and paid for private help for her dyslexia. A mother who doesn’t give a damn about her child is not going to do these things. My friends used to call my kids ‘my two handbags’ – because I’d take them everywhere.”
The review panel recommended “a thorough review of the management of the case” and for compensation to “reflect the level of the failure”.
Panel chairman Chris Radford said: “The failure lies in the lack of communication, the total failure to record actions taken or planned.”
He added: “The panel considers that these failures amount to maladministration that has led to injustice to (mother) and (daughter). The panel recommend that financial redress should be offered which reflects the level of failure.”
A council spokeswoman said: “The decision to remove a child or young person from their parent is never taken lightly and at all times the safety and wellbeing of that child is our most important consideration.
“The council does not run a closed shop and will always openly take part in examination of procedures to ensure that our systems work and that our rigorous standards continue to be upheld. We have apologised to the family for the maladministration which took place and the member of staff responsible no longer works for Camden Council.”
“Where children’s safety is at stake we must be open and transparent and at all times keep the protection of the child in mind.”

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