Children taken from parents with no evidence of risk, judge says

[grace]

Children taken from parents with no evidence of risk, judge says

By Kim Arlington

December 26, 2008

Daily Telegraph

http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/stor...5005941,00.html

 

Kids taken from parents by child welfare

Judge says no evidence they were at risk

Says it was a gross abuse of power

 

A JUDGE says it was a "gross abuse of power" for child welfare staff to forcibly remove two babies from their parents' care when there was no evidence they were at risk of harm.

 

Ordering that the children be returned to their parents immediately, Supreme Court Justice George Palmer said the New South Wales Department of Community Services officers' actions had "gravely imperilled" the children's best interests.

 

"My principal concern is that young children who have been well cared for by their parents have been removed from their care for some three months and, if the DOCS officers have their way, will be kept out of their parents' care for another three months, for no good reason," Justice Palmer said.

 

Although the parents were recreational cannabis users, the judge said there was no evidence that it posed a direct risk of harm to their children - a 15-month-old girl and a month-old boy.

 

He said there was no evidence the children, who were given the pseudonyms Georgia and Luke, were neglected or physically or emotionally abused.

 

Given that the parents were not mentally ill and had no relevant criminal history, he questioned why their children were forcibly removed and why DOCS was pursuing a care plan that would keep them in custody until May.

 

He said there had been "a serious abuse by certain DOCS officers of the department's power to take children into custody".

 

The court heard that DOCS sought to meet the parents on September 12 but did not respond to their attempts to reschedule. When the couple failed to show up, three officers came to their house.

 

The mother denied her children were at risk but the officers returned with two police officers and removed the children.

 

The parents, who cannot be identified, applied to the Supreme Court to have their children returned, a move opposed by DOCS.

 

Officers' attitude showed "an intransigent refusal to acknowledge a mistake, regardless of the consequences to the children", Justice Palmer said.

 

A psychologist who assessed the children and their parents noted: "Both parents are well able to provide for the safety, welfare and wellbeing of their infant children."

 

Justice Palmer last week ordered that Georgia and Luke be immediately returned to their parents.

 

DOCS declined to comment on the case, saying it would carefully examine the judgment and consider whether to appeal.

[Closet Grower]

From one extreme to another Docs are a bunch of fuckwits !! When they get told about parents mistreating their children and by parents that are repeat offenders , they do nothing until the child is seriously injured or killed Fucking idiots !!!

[pisspotgrower]

Least theres 1 judge with there head screwed on right and just not takin docs and coppers word for it.

[brick]

Never ceases to amaze me how people with no brains get such important positions in government jobs.

[Al Fish]

The judge was wrong. These two young precious children should never be able to see their parents again. Just because two people have children what makes them think that ipso facto they are good parents? These parents smoked dope when they should have been living law-abiding lives by getting drunk legless every night. Alcohol is legal. Compared to dope what harm has alcohol ever caused?

DOCS know more about children's welfare than two parents ever could, after all, DOCS is a government department and government departments rarely get anything wrong. The vast majority of the DOCS people I've met were lesbians whilst foster care is probably the best sort of environment to grow up in. Moreover, the fact that there was no evidence that the children were in any sort of harm doesn't mean that they weren't. Prevention is better than cure!

Also, taking young kids from environments in which they've grown comfortable can have devastating effects. These young kids had been without their parents for three months and things were OK. Why rock the boat? Their parents have obviously been affected by the stress of the court case and their time without their children, so under those circumstances giving young kids back to stressed, emotionally damaged parents was definitely the wrong thing to do.

I hope that there's an appeal by DOCS and I hope that this time the court will see fit to save two young, innocent lives from the horror that DOCS Officers definitely perceived in leaving them with cannabis-addled parents.

All cannabis users eventually gravitate to harder drugs.

Al.

[67Special]

This is fucking disturbing.

 

If these interfering DOCS officers can't show evidence of harm, shouldn't this be considered kidnapping?

 

Taking an infant from it's mother without just cause should land these pricks in jail, but no doubt they're protected from prosecution, much like their pig mates

 

I can't begin to imagine how gutted I'd be if some arsehole stole our kids for a day, let alone 3 months!

[Indycar]

I can't begin to imagine how gutted I'd be if some arsehole stole our kids for a day, let alone 3 months!

 

I would know how i would feel. There's a fair chance i'd want to have the case officers heart in my hand, before the day is out. Luckily for DOCS, they have no reason to call by here.

 

But yeah, Just another fucked up DOCS case, that you hear about fairly often. Just like what Closet Grower mentioned. In last 10-15years i've lived in this location. There's been two seperate cases where DOCS have failed two young kids terribly. Which in turn, resulted in their deaths at the hands of the parents/step-parents.

 

But yet, they move in on this case, mentioned above. As someone said, these bugga's need to be held more accountable for the actions/decisions.

[Nooby]

"The court heard that DOCS sought to meet the parents on September 12 but did not respond to their attempts to reschedule. When the couple failed to show up, three officers came to their house."

 

hmmm, so why was DOCS on their case in the first place?

 

Anyway, yeah I think the parents should take the bastards to court, or at least set up a website where others who have been abused by DOCS can get the word out.

[JaykeSucks]

That's crazy. My dad and mum were recreational pot smokers when I was younger, and I've turned out fine!

Just sometimes I have an urge to burn things...and people...heh. Not really.

I just grew up in a really calm house, with an open mind to different things, and when it came time for me to first try pot, my dad was supportive and gave me a small bag of some stuff he had, because he knew it wasn't skunk or anything crazy like that.