Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi,
I am an autistic adult who is a parent. Since having my daughter I went through a terrible time with social services who set me up to fail and removed my daughter from me because I have a diagnosis of autism. It took me two years to fight for my daughter back and through this time social services and Cafcass used the so called deficits of my autism to justify the removal and to stop the return of my daughter. Thankfully the judge saw through this and returned my daughter concluding in her judgment that I parent my daughter to a high standard.
I want to know how many my adults will autism who are parents have been through a similar situation. How many parents with ASD and other disabilities and or impairments are being targeted by social services and having their children removed? If you have experienced this please tell your story because the current system is outrageously discriminative against parents who have a disability and or impairment and I would like to raise awareness of the current failures within the current child protection system which is targeting parents with disabilities and or impairments so that change can happen.
Wow that's terrible. I hope, now reunited, you are able to find some happiness together. Best of luck
Hi yes thank you,
we have been reunited for almost a year now and social services have admitted that I am a good Mother. We are now persuing a claim for Violation of human rights against social services.
I really believe that what happened to me and my daughter is happening to many parents as the current system is very discriminatory against parents who have disabilities and or impairments it needs to change.
I only started to find out about stories similar to this during Covid both with the HSE in Ireland - and with regard to disabled children in Canada being forcibly vaccinated, then we found out about parents who refused to have the schools change thier child’s gender in California then social services would step in and remove the child from the parents custody - these situations are terrifying that the state can have so much power over peoples lives, even overriding the rights of parents and breaking up the traditional family unit and family structures, which will have a massive social impact in future generations - we knew about this to a certain extent before Covid and here in the U.K. including relating to LGBT issues, but since Covid the potential for this to happen even more is utterly terrifying, as I have extended family in Ireland who are parents of very young children and given that the corruption of the Irish state that has been already revealed, I would be horrified if this happened to any of my extended family members in Ireland - though I am an older Irish gay man with autism, I’m also a traditional Catholic Irish patriot and I’m really concerned about the level of corruption that leads to state overreach and intervention in families, given that the family is the basic unit of any properly functioning civilised society, as traditional Catholic teaching clearly points out to us
I'm appalled by this story. I am a parent and the very thought that anyone could have done that...
You must have gone through Hell. I am also so sad for your daughter because this just the time when a little 'un really needs mummy's love. Even the best Foster carer can't replace that. I hope she's bounced back from the experience ok.
Well done you on the legal action. I really hope you get a good outcome.
What really worries me is that if social services just take kids from people with illnesses or disabilities instead of supporting such families to cope, they will become the ones who damage the very children they are supposed to be their to protect. And if people start to worry their kids will be taken away they won't reach out for support when they need it, again to the detriment of the kid.
I work in a department dealing with education for kids in care. Yes, for some it's the only option; generally where their is deliberate neglect or abuse, occasionally as a short term measure whilst a parent is too poorly to perform caring tasks, but to assume that a person with ASD cannot be a good parent purely because of the ASD is damaging discrimination and NOT in the child's best interest. Just being in the care system can be detrimental to the child's development.
It's like saying you can't be a parent if you've only got one foot. It's outrageous.