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Articles / 'Their stories need to be told,' says Irish star of new BBC drama that ....

« Last post by Forgotten Mother on September 20, 2023, 11:52:17 AM »

https://www.irishpost.com/news/their-stories-need-to-be-told-says-irish-star-of-new-bbc-drama-that-examines-legacy-of-magdalene-laundries-259596?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=trending

'Their stories need to be told,' says Irish star of new BBC drama that examines legacy of Magdalene Laundries
BY: Gerard Donaghy
August 30, 2023

THE IRISH star of a new BBC drama that examines the legacy of Ireland's Magdalene Laundries says it's important to talk about the scandal now rather than 'wait for the dust to settle'.  Philippa Dunne from Co. Mayo stars as Niamh in the fictional six-part series, The Woman in the Wall, which began on BBC One on Sunday.  Set in the fictional Irish town of Kilkinure, it centres on Lorna Brady (played by BAFTA winner Ruth Wilson) who finds a corpse in her house after waking up from a bout of sleepwalking.  As Detective Colman Akande (Tipperary actor Daryl McCormack) investigates a seemingly unrelated murder case, Lorna tries to uncover what happened to the daughter that was taken from her at a Mother and Baby home decades earlier.

'It can never be forgotten'

The gothic thriller, which was filmed in Northern Ireland, comes just 10 years after then Taoiseach Enda Kenny apologised to the Magdalene victims, calling the institutions 'a national shame'.  Meanwhile, it's just over two years since the Church and State apologised for the treatment of mothers and children following a damning judicial investigation prompted by reports of a mass grave at a Mother and Baby home in Tuam, Co. Galway.  With the last such institution closing relatively recently in 1998, Dunne says it's important to continue to highlight the scandal to honour those survivors who are still alive.  "[It] needs to be spoken about forever, it can never be forgotten. And what the women endured can never be forgotten," she told the BBC.

"We have to be aware of how dark this country got so that nobody would have to suffer that way again. It's inexcusable, unforgivable.  Plus, the fact that it was still in operation up until so recently is absolutely shocking. It's still too fresh. And when it's fresh, let's not wait for the dust to settle, let's keep talking about it.  Because there are people still alive who went through this awfulness, and we need to honour them. They need to be listened to and they need to be heard, their stories need to be told.  You can't let the memory of this fade because it's an injustice to the women and it's putting us at risk of something similar happening again."
'The context is real'

Co-star Wilson agreed, saying the research she carried out for the part was an eye-opener, having not known much about it beforehand.  She hopes the series will prompt others to further explore the real-life story behind the fictional drama.  "It's only been in the past 10 years that the truth has really started coming out," she told the BBC.

"It was shocking to me that the last Mother and Baby home closed in the '90s, such recent history.  Our show is fictional, the characters are fictional, but the context is real and much of the material is inspired by true events.  It feels important to make work that can platform the stories of these women and my hope is that people enjoy the series, but more importantly, go away and dig a bit deeper, learn a bit more."

The show's London-born Irish creator Joe Murtagh admitted to being equally shocked when learning the details of the real-life scandal.  He added that most people outside of Ireland were unaware of it when he mentioned it to them and so he was 'inspired to do this [show] just by a sense of outrage'.

Murtagh believes that despite the apologies and compensation schemes, there hasn't been enough done to address the issue.  He believes it should be included on the Irish curriculum and hopes his own series can educate people who may just tune in expecting a traditional crime drama.  He said: "My hope is that someone in a random corner of the world, someone who's never heard about the Magdalene Laundries is going to sit down to watch this show because they want to watch a heightened type of murder mystery, and it will totally deliver on that and they will be engaged by it but then by the end of all, they've also learned all about the Magdalene Laundries too."

The first two episodes of The Woman in the Wall are available in Britain on BBC iPlayer. The series will continue on BBC One on Sundays at 9pm, starting with epispode three this Sunday, September 3. Each episode will be available on iPlayer after airing on BBC One.  The series will later air on Paramount+ with SHOWTIME in the US and exclusively on Paramount+ in Canada, Australia, Latin America, Brazil, Italy, France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria and South Korea. The series will be distributed by Paramount Global Content Distribution in additional international markets.

82

General Discussion / The Power of Sharing Our Messy Stories

« Last post by Forgotten Mother on September 17, 2023, 12:53:42 PM »

https://proverbs31.org/read/devotions/full-post/2022/10/17/the-power-of-sharing-our-messy-stories?utm_campaign=Daily%20Devotions&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=228994815&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8cM6-_neG-54XQGDmlE5cBtc3NpYH7yOe8H9o6ViYFK5vW27W1sIq0heiICaRtaZ5NLdrClCj17ujDn8On1cmkqEpsPQ&utm_content=228994815&utm_source=hs_email#disqus_thread

The Power of Sharing Our Messy Stories
October 17, 2022
by Asheritah Ciuciu

“We will not hide them from their descendants; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD, his power, and the wonders he has done.” Psalm 78:4 (NIV)

“Tell us a story, Mommy!” My children bounce on the mattress, their shining faces matching their singsong voices.

“Which one?” I ask, unable to hide the smile tugging at my lips.

What follows is a jumble of animated requests:

“The time you were looking for mushrooms and got lost in the woods!”
“The time you hid in the backyard and ate all the canned whipped cream!”
“The time you met Daddy at summer camp and he chased you, but you thought he had cooties!”

So many stories. Such fond memories. And I love sharing them with my kids, even if most of the stories involve me getting into some kind of trouble. Because what kid doesn’t enjoy hearing how her parents got into a scrape when they were young, just like her?

But lately, I’ve been weaving a different kind of story into our bedtime routine.

“… Have I told you the story of how I met Jesus in the back of my parents’ Subaru one cold autumn night?”
“… Want to hear how God miraculously provided exactly how much money I needed for school?”
“… Did I ever tell you how I was almost separated from my mom at birth, but God protected us both?”

These are more than bedtime stories, more than funny anecdotes of mom getting into trouble. These are stories that showcase God’s glory in our messy, human need. But we sometimes convince ourselves to leave them untold, and we hide a blazing light under a flimsy bushel. (Matthew 5:14-16)   When my children were babies, I didn’t feel the urge to tell them these God-sized stories because I didn’t think they’d grasp the miracle in the mundane. But as they grow, I’m aware of just how quickly time passes and just how few storytelling evenings we still have together.  I still don't do it perfectly, but there’s an urgency now, a passion to make sure I pass on these stories to my children so they know the God of Joseph, David and Esther is just as alive and active in our lives today.  You see, we all suffer from soul amnesia, forgetting who God is and what He’s done from one day to the next and from one generation to the next. God knows this human tendency. That's why He commanded His people, starting in ancient Israel, not just to teach their children His laws but also to tell their God-stories  true tales of the dangerous exodus out of Egypt; the miraculous Red Sea crossing at night; the unexplainable manna and quail in the wilderness; and many more stories of the God who sees, who hears and who provides for His people.  In fact, the Israelites chronicled this commitment in one of their worship songs:  “We will not hide them from their descendants; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD, his power, and the wonders he has done.” (Psalm 78:4)

We live in a story-driven world, and it’s not just children who want to hear stories it’s all of us, co-workers, neighbors, roommates. Most everyone we meet is immediately hooked by the words “Want to hear a great story?”

And these stories are not just from the past: We’re living God-sized stories every day, if only we open our eyes to see Him working in our lives. Because the One who writes our stories still holds the pen in His hands, and He’s not finished with us yet.  So what’s your story?

83

Articles / The Nazi U-boat, a doomed ship and the riddle of the body on the beach ....

« Last post by Forgotten Mother on September 16, 2023, 03:36:11 PM »

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12523805/The-Nazi-U-boat-doomed-ship-riddle-body-beach-thats-solved-83-years.html?ico=scotland-section-desktop

The Nazi U-boat, a doomed ship and the riddle of the body on the beach that's been solved after 83 years

    Incredible detective story unravels tangled web behind tragedy that claimed 800 lives
    Family finally given answers to fate of beloved husband buried in unmarked grave

By Gavin Madeley For The Scottish Daily Mail

Published: 01:44, 16 September 2023 | Updated: 01:44, 16 September 2023

On a warm late August day in 1940, as war raged across Europe, a nine-year-old boy was scavenging the coastline near his Ayrshire home in search of treasure.  Newly evacuated to the seaside village of Lendalfoot, the child had quickly learned to head for a rocky spot known as the Loup, where all the flotsam and jetsam of the day washes in from the sea.  Lured back by the recent find of a fine ­fishing rod, his eye was suddenly drawn to an altogether more disturbing shape gently lapping at the shore human remains long since dead, yet fully clothed and strapped into a ship’s life jacket.  The shock of that encounter stayed with the boy long after he raced to fetch help and the local bobbies arrived to deal with the matter and take the poor soul to the local mortuary. It bothered the child that he didn’t know anything about this unfortunate stranger, neither his name nor anything about his life.  Even the scant detail in the brief newspaper report of the man’s burial two days later in a nearby cemetery, in a plain black coffin in an unmarked plot, would have been unilluminating.  It would be another eight decades before some remarkable detective work by a band of determined researchers unlocked this macabre mystery and finally revealed the identity of the drowned man as Francesco D’Inverno. Here, the Scottish Daily Mail can exclusively publish the only photograph known to exist of Francesco.  But in this strangest of tales, that name was already in the possession of those researchers as a victim of an infamous wartime tragedy, the sinking of the Arandora Star. Indeed, Francesco D’Inverno is etched onto a memorial plaque in Glasgow to the 94 Scots Italians who lost their lives when the converted cruise liner transporting ‘enemy aliens’ to Canada was torpedoed by a Nazi U-boat on July 2, 1940.  What nobody knew, until now, was that Francesco and the drowned man buried in an anonymous grave were one and the same.  ‘It’s just spine-tingling what we have been able to uncover,’ said genealogist Raffaello Gonnella. ‘But this story just continues to give. We have now managed to locate the exact spot where ­Francesco was buried and spoken to surviving members of his wider family who had no idea about this story. They thought he had been lost at sea.’

This fascinating tale of how a complex historical jigsaw was pieced together began with a ­supposedly simple project to ­produce pictures and biographies of all the men featured on the Arandora Star memorial, which stands in the Italian Garden at St Andrew’s Metropolitan Cathedral in Glasgow.  When historian Michael Donnelly, of the Italian Garden Improvement Group, started to research Francesco D’Inverno, he got a ­surprise. ‘The thing that came up first was his death record, which is extraordinary,’ he said. ‘Given that very few bodies were ever found, I was really puzzled that he was a man with a death record in the Scottish system.  And when I called the record up, it revealed that he wasn’t from here at all; he wasn’t ­Scottish, his last known address was London.’

It is thought the fact his death was recorded in Scotland led to a slip of a bureaucrat’s pen ­mistakenly adding Francesco’s name to a list of Scots Italian ­victims of the Arandora Star. ‘Thankfully for us, this was a happy mistake as it cracked the case open,’ said Mr Gonnella.

The death certificate also confirmed Francesco had been found drowned at Lendalfoot. Further research with South Ayrshire Council then discovered details of the burial in an unmarked grave at the Doune cemetery in Girvan.  The next problem was trying to pinpoint the location of the burial site. Ritchie and Lorna Conaghan, of the Girvan and District Great War Project, which tends the graves of more than 600 war dead, pored over the council’s lair books which map the graves of every cemetery. They were amazed to discover that, although Francesco was buried on common ground here people are often buried together his was the only body in his plot.  ‘They must have realised he was a Roman Catholic because the funeral was carried out by the ­parish priest from Irvine,’ said Mrs Conaghan. This second stroke of fortune meant the group could push on with plans to mark ­Francesco’s grave with a headstone. A JustGiving page has been set up to raise the £5,000 they need to cover the costs.  They have also been able to ­contact relatives of Francesco to tell them of his final resting place and flesh out details of his life.  Born in Villa Latina in the Lazio region in 1901, Francesco D’Inverno came to London in the 1930s in search of a better life. He found lodgings with an Italian widow, Ginevra Tasselli, and her four children at her home at 57 King’s Cross Road.  He worked at a 181-bedroom country house hotel in Croydon, south London, called the Selsdon Park, which still exists. ‘He held various jobs, including head plateman, who was in charge of all the fancy table decorations and serving plates, and worked in the kitchens as a cook,’ said Mr Gonnella.

At some point, his relationship with his landlady changed and despite the age gap she was 50 and he was 37 they married in April, 1939, at St Peter’s Italian Church in Clerkenwell Road, London. It was just months before the outbreak of war when, in an atmosphere of public paranoia about ‘fifth columnists’, all refugees were classified as ‘enemy aliens’.  After Mussolini declared war against Britain in June 1940, Churchill famously declared ‘collar the lot,’ and Italian shop, café and restaurant owners were arrested, including Francesco their only crime was their heritage.  Hundreds were herded, along with some German prisoners of war, onto the Arandora Star liner painted battleship grey with barbed wire and no Red Cross logo to signal they were not soldiers to take them to prison camps in Canada.  Off the coast of Ireland, she was attacked by the U-47 commanded by the ultra-Nazi Gunter Prien who had previously sunk the Royal Oak at Scapa Flow. It took just one torpedo to send the Arandora Star to the seabed with the loss of 805 lives. Only 22 bodies were ever identified from the disaster, while Francesco’s is thought to be the only one that carried as far as the Scottish mainland.  ‘What is amazing is we thought we were researching the 94 men who came from Scotland and yet this story was of a man who never set foot in Scotland alive,’ noted Mr Gonnella. ‘He is a London Italian, but he is our London Italian.’

Francesco’s story carries added poignancy for Mr Gonnella, who lost his own maternal grandfather Quinto Santini from Paisley on the Arandora Star.  ‘That’s where my passion for researching this tragedy stems from,’ he said. ‘My family don’t have a body, we don’t even have a death certificate because they died as enemy aliens. This chap washed up as an unknown on the beach and was given full details because of what they found on the body and were able to identify him.’

Mr Gonnella added: ‘My grand-father’s story was no different from many others; he came over here almost 30 years before he was arrested. Five of his seven children were born here and he ran his own business here, he had Scottish friends. Every town and village, it seemed, had Italians and they were welcomed. But when Italy declared war, he was arrested because he held an Italian passport.  Ironically, his two eldest sons served in the British Army. My uncle Raffaello, after whom I’m named, served in the King’s Own Scottish Borderers and died at Caen in northern France in 1944. My mum’s other brother, Ardero, was in the British Medical Corps for four years.’

Mr Gonnella’s own father spent four years in a Canadian internment camp having sailed on another ship, the Ettrick, three days after the Arandora Star. This is a tale that is repeated through the Italian community and what makes Francesco’s story ­important is that this is a forgotten tragedy. In war, there are hundreds of such tragedies, he said.  ‘To get somebody like Francesco found after 80 years, you just couldn’t make up. That could have been my grandfather that was washed up. Now we know this story, we want to tell it, so others are also remembered.’

For Francesco’s surviving family, the story has been a revelation. In the ebb and flow of life, Ginevra, his widow, and all four of her ­children have died, but one ­daughter-in-law, Doris Tasselli, is still fighting fit at 93 years old.  Her granddaughter Charlotte Tasselli Arnold said: ‘I had no idea about this story at all, but my nan Doris knew all about Frank, as they called him.  She said Ginevra always talked about Frank and said all she got was a letter from the War Office saying that he went down with the ship and was lost presumed drowned at sea. We didn’t know there was a death certificate.  Doris said it was lovely that they had found Frank and she said that if Ginevra knew he had been buried in a Catholic funeral, she would have been very touched. And she would have been up to Scotland like a shot to visit his grave. It’s just a shame that she never got that news; the family were never notified that the body was found.’

She added: ‘It’s a strange feeling to know the full story happiness, but also quite sad that Ginevra and the people who really knew and loved him never knew the truth. She told the story for years that he went down with the boat.’

Mrs Arnold said Ginevra was married before and widowed quite young with four small children: ‘She couldn’t work as she didn’t know much English, so to make ends meet she would take in lodgers, one of whom was Frank.  He came to her from the church and later they had this relationship. There was a 20-year age gap and she would call him “the boy”. My nan said she wondered if they got married when they did because Ginevra wanted to keep Frank safe with the war sparking off.’

The family now hope to make a journey north to see Francesco’s grave and pay their respects. ‘It’s just so important to have somewhere to go to,’ said Mrs Arnold. ‘It is an amazing story and the fact that he has been there all these years and people have worked so hard to track us down. They have made so many people happy by solving this mystery.’

The final piece of the puzzle ­slotted into place last week when Mrs Arnold’s relatives located the only known photograph of ­Francesco among family albums – standing next to Ginevra on a trip to Italy soon after they were ­married. ‘We are so happy to have put a face to the name,’ she said.

But this story has one final incredible twist – after researchers tracked down the boy who found Francesco’s body 83 years ago. ‘He is 92 and not in good health but we were able to visit him briefly and tell him what we had discovered,’ said Mr Gonnella. ‘He replied, “Since I was nine years old, I have often wondered what happened to that man I found on the beach all those years ago”.  He said he had tried but never managed to find out. We were able to tell him the full story up to that point and his face just lit up at the news we had found him; he was humbly grateful that we could fill in the story for him.  It’s amazing; he could tell us the exact spot where the body was found. That was one of the most touching points of the story. Until then, this felt almost like a research project, but that really brought him alive as a person.’

For now, a wooden cross marks Francesco D’Inverno’s grave and flowers were placed there for the first time on July 2, the ­anniversary of the Arandora Star disaster. Soon, Mr Gonnella hopes, something more permanent will replace it.  ‘This was a forgotten story,’ he said. ‘Now we’ve traced who he is and where he is, we need the ­public’s help to provide Francesco with a fitting headstone. It will be symbolic for all the victims’ families a place to mourn and remember.’

To donate to the headstone appeal, visit www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/michael-donnelly-4

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Articles / Court accidentally gave adoption family details to birth father

« Last post by Forgotten Mother on September 14, 2023, 04:05:00 PM »

https://www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/court-accidentally-gave-adoption-family-details-to-birth-father/5117194.article

Court accidentally gave adoption family details to birth father

By John Hyde 11 September 2023

The Ministry of Justice has been ordered to improve its systems after details of parties in an adoption process were leaked to the birth father.  The data breach happened despite the court judge directing that the father be excluded from proceedings as he posed a risk to the family concerned.  A decision notice from the information commissioner found the mistake was due to a combination of unauthorised local processes and a failure to follow national practice requirements.  The MoJ was given three months to implement multiple changes to its approach to data protection, notably a review of all court processes to check for any other regional deviations from national practice.  The decision notice outlined that the cover sheet had been removed from the front of the adoption file in a breach of protocol. Staff members at the unnamed court with responsibility for checking the file prior to disclosure had then failed to check the contents.  Usually in adoption cases the parties are removed from the electronic court system, but in this case the judge had not issued such an instruction and there was no set procedure for court communications to be recorded.  A note on the restriction of information sharing had been placed in the electronic filing system, but at the time of the incident the system could hold only one note at a time and had subsequently been overwritten.  The Information Commissioner's Office noted that the court had amended its local process to bring it in line with national practice. The cover sheet is no longer removed and the electronic filing system can hold more than one note at a time.  The regulator issued a reprimand but listed a set of requirements to be completed by 7 December. These include a review of national practice to check levels of security of personal information, spot checks of case files to ensure ongoing compliance and improved training in data protection.  The decision notice did not state the consequences of the data breach or whether the father attempted to use the information he had been supplied.

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General Discussion / How You Can Encourage Your Husband When He’s Struggling With His Faith

« Last post by Forgotten Mother on September 07, 2023, 04:39:49 PM »

https://proverbs31.org/read/devotions/full-post/2022/09/28/how-you-can-encourage-your-husband-when-hes-struggling-with-his-faith?utm_campaign=Daily%20Devotions&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=226889201&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8PxVxIYSx0GfGZw5oXewmjvc5L1yhHP6XNo7T4PLHnEvS88AU4eznqbEa83-l-xwycLIrh0r7-GxGZzfE54vTS0xmMJg&utm_content=226889201&utm_source=hs_email#disqus_thread

How You Can Encourage Your Husband When He’s Struggling With His Faith
September 28, 2022
by Lisa Jacobson

“Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.” 1 Thessalonians 5:11 (ESV)

I don’t know why I hadn’t picked up on it earlier.  One Friday evening, I looked up to see my husband walking by with his shoulders slumped and his stride too slow. He moved as if burdened by some great weight, and it was all he could do to carry it across the floor.  My heart ached to watch his heavy steps as he made his way to the other side of the room.  How did I not notice this before?

My excuse is that we were caught up in such a swirl of troubles challenges at church, a struggling child and a work deal fallen through that I’d not stopped to realize the full effect it was having on him.  But if pressed, I’d probably have to admit I was too caught up in my own concerns of that difficult season to consider what might have been his own concerns.  I couldn’t ignore the signs any longer. Yes, we still said grace before our meals and rarely missed church on Sundays, but there was a noticeable lack of enthusiasm on my husband’s part.  Clearly, my man was not in a good place, and my heart went out to him. What can I do to bolster his spirits?

To help strengthen his faith in this trying season?

Maybe you’ve asked some of these same questions and more.  So what does a wife do when her man is downcast? When he seems rather lost or wavering?

Maybe he’s stopped reading his Bible or attending church. Perhaps he never did those things in the first place. And for this reason or possibly others, you’re worried about where your husband might be in his spiritual journey.  Oh, friend, few things make a married Christian woman feel more helpless than watching her husband struggle with his faith.  I’m sure you’ve tried everything subtly placed his Bible on the bedside table, asked if he’ll go to church with you this coming Sunday or urged him to try the new men’s Bible study. But despite your best efforts, he’s shown little interest in these spiritual pursuits. Naturally, you’re anxious for him and yet you are not as powerless as you might feel.  Although it’s true we cannot walk in faith for another person, we can still minister to our husbands in their wrestling places. We can do as 1 Thessalonians 5:11 says: “Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.”

You can begin by calling out to God on your husband's behalf. More than a basic “pray for him,” this means true supplication crying out to the Lord to bless, heal, convict and move him. Your husband might be encouraged by knowing his wife is lifting him up, even if he is not in a place where he feels like praying for himself.  hen a man is discouraged, he is often down on himself most of all. So this would be the perfect time to affirm the good you can see in your husband that he might not be able to see for himself. Express your appreciation for the everyday tasks he does for you, and remind him of those unique qualities you love about him. Instead of pointing out what he isn’t doing well, point out any positives, no matter how small.  And never underestimate the power of your faithful example in your husband’s life. An understanding smile, an encouraging word and a joyful song on your lips even while going through trials can have a stronger influence on him than might be immediately apparent.  You can have a tremendous impact on your husband by shining the love of Christ sometimes quietly and other times exuberantly in your home.

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General Discussion / Outside the Circle

« Last post by Forgotten Mother on September 07, 2023, 04:31:44 PM »

https://proverbs31.org/read/devotions/full-post/2022/09/27/outside-the-circle?utm_campaign=Daily%20Devotions&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=226888128&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8PegbAAUrl7QEkWllP1U883eOtDFIJx64HhUJuW8IZTvdgoYOZpV99EnKkBDv9G9YjG9D711E7zqudw4Liu74PDSLbOg&utm_content=226888128&utm_source=hs_email#disqus_thread

Outside the Circle
September 27, 2022
by Susie Larson

“God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important.” 1 Corinthians 1:28 (NLT)

d9.27-22

When I was in high school, I was actively involved in lots of activities. But due to some childhood trauma, I was also painfully insecure.  I couldn’t find my footing to save my life. You’d find me on the sidelines at the varsity football games with the cheerleaders, but I wasn’t a legitimate member of their group. They didn’t care for me much. But I don’t fault them for that because I didn’t care for me much either.  Maybe this is your story too. Something happened in life to push you outside the circle. Now, on one hand, you don’t want to give too much power to the opinions of others, but on the other, you don’t want to live with a lie embedded in your soul.  God loves you. He designed you masterfully. And He does His best work through humble, broken people who know they need Him.  One day I cried out in prayer to God, knowing I had a flawed view of myself but at a loss for what to do about it. The Lord whispered to my heart, Susie, you’ve felt outside the circle your whole life, but that circle is actually an illusion. It has no value in heaven. Then I pictured Him drawing a circle around me when He whispered, You’re inside My circle, and that’s the only one that matters. The truth settled into my soul that day.  God consistently uses people who seem to be outside the circle, and He seems to love to do so. He takes regular, flawed, weak people and positions them to interrupt the enemy’s plans and establish His ultimate purposes on the earth:

*  Joseph was an outsider, as far as his brothers were concerned. Then he became an insider in Egypt. God promoted him and positioned him to save a nation. (See Genesis 50.)

*  Moses was an insider raised by Egyptians. But God called him to be an outsider and align with His people, Israel, at a significant cost to Moses, so that He could lead them out of captivity and into freedom. (Read the book of Exodus.)

*  Jesus was an insider seated in heaven, one with God and the Holy Spirit and stepped down from His throne to enter the womb of a teenage girl. He who knew no sin became sin so that we could become the righteousness of God through Him. (2 Corinthians 5:21) He became an outsider so we who bear His name would become insiders heirs to the Kingdom, filled with His Spirit, assigned to carry out His purposes on the earth. Hallelujah! (Read the Gospels.)

*  Paul was an insider: a Roman citizen and a persecutor of Christians. God knocked him off his horse and called him to be an outsider. Paul then followed Jesus and walked with those he’d once terrorized, and God used him to change the world. (Read Acts 9.)

Over and over again, God upsets the status quo. He purposely chooses the weak, the outcast and the marginal for His great purposes, as 1 Corinthians 1:28 says:  “God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important.”

How many people go through life thinking they are outside a circle that holds no value in heaven?

What would change for you if you understood and embraced your place at the table of grace?

What if you genuinely saw yourself as the apple of God’s eye?

Maybe you feel left out like I did outside the circle of others and even outside God’s circle. Friend, while others may not choose you, God will always choose you. He created you just as you are, and He has a purpose and a plan for how He wants to use you just as you are. What others think of you and what you think of yourself will never compare to how God thinks of you, His daughter!  And the best news is that if we wish to see ourselves as God sees us, all we have to do is ask Him for His vision, His perspective of us. He delights in every detail of our lives.

87

Articles / Children's care home horror in Germany as girl, ten, is raped 'by adult ....

« Last post by Forgotten Mother on September 05, 2023, 02:31:32 PM »

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12481649/Childrens-home-horror-girl-ten-raped-murdered-German-police-believe-burglar-25-committed-sex-attack-boy-11-later-killed-argument.html

Children's care home horror in Germany as girl, ten, is raped 'by adult burglar then murdered in separate attack by boy, 11, also living at facility'

    Victim found dead in her room at child and youth welfare facility in Wunsiedel
    Police believe burglar, 25, raped girl before she was killed by 11-year-old boy

By Rachael Bunyan

Updated: 14:04, 5 September 2023

German police fear a ten-year-old girl killed in a care home was raped by a burglar shortly before being murdered in a separate attack by an 11-year-old boy who was living at the same facility.  The victim, identified only as Lena, was found dead in her room at a child and youth welfare facility in Wunsiedel, in Germany's Bavaria region, on April 4 and police suspected the 11-year-old boy of being involved in her death.  But now it has emerged that a 25-year-old German man, who has been identified only as Daniel T and is said to be a garbage collector, allegedly entered the child welfare facility through an open bathroom window on the night the victim was killed.  The suspect, who lives locally, was allegedly trying to steal from the children's home when he came across the 11-year-old boy and ten-year-old girl.  Police suspect the burglar sexually assaulted the victim before leaving the facility, reports Onetz.  On that same night, prosecutors now say the 11-year-old boy, who was the girl's roommate, got into an argument with the victim and murdered her. They do not believe Daniel T was involved in her killing.  With regard to the killing of the girl, the investigators and the public prosecutor's office assume that the 11-year-old boy killed her without the 25-year-old's involvement,' Matthias Goers, of the Hof public prosecutor's office, said.

The boy is not yet at the age of criminal responsibility, which is 14, so has been kept in a secure facility since April. It is not yet clear how the girl died, but police say she suffered a 'violent' death.   The children had been one of a few children left at the home at the time of the murder because most of the other youngsters living there were on a skiing holiday, reports Bild.  Last month, prosecutors brought charges against the 25-year-old man for rape, burglary and arson.  He is suspected of committing five burglaries between 2022 and 2023 and stealing construction machinery worth £13,700 (16,000 euros) from containers, which he set on fire to try to remove evidence.  At the time of the girl's murder, the child and youth welfare centre in the small town of Wunsiedel, home to around 90 children and teenagers, said it was 'deeply shocked' by her death.    'Our thoughts and prayers are with the parents, the family, our children and our colleagues,' it said in a statement.

On its website, the institute describes itself as supporting 'young people and their families who need help with their upbringing'.

Her brutal murder came just a month after the killing of 12-year-old Luise Frisch, who was found dead in the western town of Freudenberg in March after suffering multiple stab wounds.  Her killers, named as Luisa Halberstadt, 13, and Anna-Marie Hoffman, 12, stabbed their victim 32 times with a nail file before pushing her down a steep embankment in nearby woods.  The classmates also put a plastic bag over Luise's head before one chillingly told the other to 'hit her with a stone or she would be lying next to her'.

The pair confessed to the crime but will avoid punishment as they are too young to bear criminal responsibility in Germany.  Police fear Luise may have been alive before she was thrown down the embankment and died from her injuries and the sub-zero conditions that hit the area in early March.

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Politics / Adoption Gratitude: How Expectations Weigh on Adoptees

« Last post by Forgotten Mother on September 02, 2023, 02:27:35 PM »

https://www.teenvogue.com/story/adoption-gratitude-expectations

Adoption Gratitude: How Expectations Weigh on Adoptees
This reported op-ed argues that adoptees shouldn't have to feel grateful.

By Logan Hoffman-Smith
August 29, 2023

“I never know how to feel around my birthday,” said an anonymous adoptee on Subtle Asian Adoptee Traits, a Facebook group where thousands of transnational Asian adoptees go to share their feelings on adoption. “I celebrated my birthday when I was younger,” the poster continued, “but as I’ve gotten older, I am reminded of loss.”

The flurry of hearts and crying emojis that followed from fellow members speaks to the resonance of this statement.  Birthdays are a complex time for adoptees. While celebratory in nature, they can also bring up painful reminders of loss, relinquishment, and questions about one’s adoptive parents. Our experience of birthdays serves as a metaphor for the broad, unspoken expectation that goes with adoption: We should always wear a smile lest we be labeled ungrateful or defective for expressing more complicated feelings about our situation.`

Adoptees are often told that our biological parents put us up for adoption because they were financially or emotionally unable to care for us, and that our adoptive parents, out of generosity, took us in to give us a better life in a country with better resources. This narrative is reinforced by most available adoption literature, which is by or for adoptive parents; it is more difficult to access adoption literature that is written by or for adoptees. The stories we are told frame biological parents and birth countries as nonviable as non-options.  Kiera McCabe, a poet and Chinese American adoptee, says this version of events disregards the humanity and potential of biological parents, and that the reality is often more troubled. “I think that it took me a long time to get to that attitude, to not view adoption as just this cut-and-paste family where we’ve made everyone happy,” she tells Teen Vogue. “Especially because adoption does inflict a social death on us, and a legal death on us and of where we’re from, our countries of origin, cultural death. We lose so much."

McCabe adds, "It also inflicts a social and legal death on our birth families, because of the pariah status” they get subjected to in some communities for giving up their kids.  White savior fantasies," says McCabe, such as the one spun in the 2011 documentary film Somewhere Between, are “reassurance for white people that they’re doing the right thing by adopting.” The “horror” of adoption and foster care is that “we have these narratives of ‘making a family for you.’ But you can’t make these families without destroying another one.”

Many Chinese American adoptees recall their adoptive parents telling them a story about a “red thread of fate” that connected them to their adoptive parents when they were young. Kimberly Rooney 高小荣, an essayist, fiction author, and Chinese American adoptee who has written about the red thread folktale, explains that this appropriated metaphor obscures complex systems by focusing on individual decisions. As Rooney wrote in The Offing magazine, one of these original folktales was about a young man who tried to escape his red thread of fate by maiming the girl he was connected with and ended up unknowingly marrying her.  Says Rooney, the original folktale was presented as “sort of proof of, ‘Oh, even if you tried to resist, you are connected.’ This is appropriated and sanitized and whitewashed by a lot of adoptive parents, who turned it into this tale of how the red thread was actually connecting their adoptive child to them.”

They continue, “In appropriating and changing this narrative, adoptive parents aren't just scrubbing the violence of the original folktale, they're also scrubbing the violence that exists within Chinese American adoption."

Rooney goes on to say that "adoptive parents have a lot of power over adoptees in the access that we have when we're younger to our own cultures and the tools and frameworks we’re given to think about ourselves and what happened to us. Even if adoptive parents don't realize that they're abusing that power, and abusing their ability to filter what is and isn't appropriate from our cultures through the lens of their own whiteness even if they don't realize that that's what they're doing, it still is. And it's unfortunately incredibly impactful on adoptees.”

Those who acknowledge the complexities of adoption are often met with backlash. Kimberly McKee, an adoptee and associate professor at Grand Valley State University in Michigan, has written about the assumption of obligatory gratefulness, presenting the concept of the “adoptee killjoy.”

“The adoptee killjoy pushes back against demands for gratitude toward adoption by demonstrating adoption's complexities,” McKee tells Teen Vogue. “It's not just about being angry; it's thinking about the systems and institutions that rendered individuals adoptable, as well as drawing attention to the fact that adoption just isn't that positive win-win-win for all people.”

She adds, “I like thinking about the adoptee killjoy because, inherently, by voicing just any opinion, we are killing the joy surrounding fantasies of adoption, and that prevailing fantasy of adoption as rescue and as a humanitarian act.”

Statistics show that adoption doesn't exist independent of imperial politics. International Korean adoptions boomed during and after the economic devastation of the Korean War, with the number of international adoptees increasing from around 6,166 in the 1960s to 66,511 in the '80s, according to the country’s Ministry of Health and Welfare data, cited by The Korea Herald. Comparatively, between 2010-2021, the number of international Korean adoptions was 486. China’s one-child policy brought on by economic anxiety also led to an exponential increase in the number of international Chinese adoptions, mainly the adoption of girls. Rooney argues that the movement of adoptees from China to the United States replicates the violence of forced migration and assimilation brought on by the hand of the United States in global capitalism and imperialism.  Anna Ghublikian, an artist and Korean American adoptee, identifies as an adoption abolitionist due to the structures of criminality and poverty that render children adoptable. “Adoption is an industrial complex, designed only in the interests of those who have adopted, but it also puts responsibility on an individual adoptive parent," says Ghublikian. "So they either see their child through or steer their child through this journey of institutional violence without necessarily the tools to do that right, potentially thinking they’re do-gooders.”

However, Ghublikian notes, the onus ought not be put on individual parents, but rather on exploitative global politics overall. “Many adoptive parents, I think, could benefit from a little more self-reflection and a critical lens," they say. "But at the end of the day, I wouldn't blame my parents for wanting me. The question of who adoption resources are for kind of reflects both of those things. The interests of parents, prospective parents, I think, is what drove the industry, so naturally, the resources would be oriented around it.”

A shift toward agency for adoptees has led to more readily available resources, says Ghublikian, like gatherings, support groups, film, and literature. McKee, while conducting research for her new book, Adoption Fantasies: The Fetishization of Asian Adoptees From Girlhood to Womanhood, has also noticed a shift in resources for adoptees, by adoptees.  Memoirs like Shanon Gibney’s The Girl I Am, Was, and Never Will Be and Jenny Heijun Wills’s Older Sister. Not Necessarily Related: A Memoir have given adoptees new access to community and language. McKee is particularly excited about the forthcoming YA anthology of adoptee short fiction, When We Become Ours. Major films, such as Return to Seoul, that feature adoptee characters in all their nuance have also helped make adoptees feel like they have more agency and are less alone.  “We're still seeing a shift in terms of how adopted voices are being listened to and amplified," McKee says. "It's not just that we're seeing more adoptees writing memoirs adoptees have been writing memoirs for decades. That's not new. What is new is the content within them the more nuanced or complex conversations about adoptive communities.”

Social media, McKee points out, has also provided a space for adoptees to connect with one another and share their experiences: “Adoptees on social media have a huge voice, whether it's adoptee Twitter, adoptees on TikTok, adoptees on Instagram, there is a growing community. So even if you may not be having these conversations in real life with your friends, there are other avenues to start exploring identity in ways that may feel more comfortable to you.”

Through reflection and conversation with other adoptees, McCabe has gained more confidence and become more comfortable with herself. The poet wants other adoptees to know that it’s okay to push back on society’s assumptions, and that there are many ways to break out of narratives that seem pre-written for us. Adoptees are often told our adoptive parents relinquished us because they really did love us and wanted a better life for us, but this idea as well as feelings of abandonment can bring about significant attachment anxiety.  Says McCabe, "Two things were revolutionary for me: Learning the idea that, for us, we are taught love means leaving. Knowledge of this really helped me adjust how I think, my understanding of how I've been in relationships and also to understand why I've been existentially terrified of dying alone for so long. The other thing," McCabe continues, "is we are entitled to the information around our history. It’s not wrong of us to want to know where we come from, because everyone else has that.”

89

Articles / ‘The Blind Side’ lawsuit spotlights tricky areas of family law

« Last post by Forgotten Mother on September 02, 2023, 02:14:48 PM »

https://theconversation.com/the-blind-side-lawsuit-spotlights-tricky-areas-of-family-law-212175#:~:text=Oher%2C%20whose%20story%20was%20made,was%20in%20fact%20never%20adopted.

‘The Blind Side’ lawsuit spotlights tricky areas of family law
Published: September 1, 2023 1.43pm BST

What’s the difference between adoption and conservatorship?

Millions of dollars and the freedom to make your own choices, if you ask retired football player Michael Oher.  Oher, whose story was made into the 2009 movie “The Blind Side,” says he believed he signed papers to be adopted by an affluent white couple, Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy, in 2004. But papers filed in court recently indicate Oher was in fact never adopted. Rather, he has been under a court-imposed conservatorship all this time. Further, it is alleged that the arrangement allowed the Tuohys to “gain financial advantages” by striking deals in Oher’s name.  The Tuohys’ attorneys have pushed back, saying that Oher had long known he wasn’t formally adopted and that the conservatorship was necessary for his college football aspirations. Their current attorney has also said he believes the long timeline for getting an adoption compared with the relatively speedy conservatorship process played a role in their decision.  As the high-profile legal drama continues to unfold, Leigh Anne Tuohy’s personal website still describes Michael Oher as the couple’s “adopted son.”  As a law school professor who teaches trusts and estates as well as family law, I have been intrigued by the precise connections between the Tuohys and Oher. A conservatorship and an adoption are two very different legal proceedings, and the resulting relationships are entirely distinct.

What is a conservatorship?

Conservatorships are legal mechanisms to help people who can’t care for themselves or their finances for example, due to advanced dementia. They’re typically not for people like Oher who have been signing their own contracts or writing their own books. The goal is to protect a vulnerable person’s well-being and their assets from being misused. Another recent conservatorship in the news, that of Britney Spears, was also the subject of contentious legal proceedings, although the conservator in that case was her father.  Adoption is a different legal process that results in a new parent-child relationship. Parents have certain rights and responsibilities for their children, but once a child turns 18 – regardless of whether they are adopted they are legal adults: They can make their own medical decisions, enter into their own contracts and get married without any parental involvement. People in conservatorships don’t typically have the same kind of freedom.  In Tennessee, where the Tuohys live, parents are not required to support their children once they graduate from high school. But the existence of a parent-child relationship remains meaningful even after a child turns 18. For example, parents and children may have legal inheritance rights, or children may be required to pay for a parent’s necessities.  The Tuohys say they were told that they couldn’t adopt an adult. But under Tennessee law, as in many other states, adoption can take place at any age. To be sure, in Tennessee, anyone 14 or older needs to consent for the adoption to take place. So Oher would have had to agree which he says he thought he did.  In addition, adoption typically requires ending the rights of the birth parents, which can be done either voluntarily or through a termination hearing. So even though Oher was over 18, the Tuohys could have adopted him but that probably would have required ending the parental rights of Denise Oher, Michael Oher’s mother.

Tuohys’ relationship to Oher

The Tuohys didn’t file for adoption. Rather, they asked a court to appoint them Oher’s conservators, which it did.  Only a court can impose a conservatorship, and only a court can terminate one. A handful of states explicitly allow for a “voluntary” conservatorship that is, one to which the person subject to the conservatorship agrees. Others, including Tennessee, seem to allow that implicitly, providing for special procedures when the person joins the petition.  That appears to be what happened with Oher: He joined in the request for a conservatorship, and so did his birth mother. At issue is whether he knew he was doing so.  Although Tennessee law requires that the court find an individual “fully or partially disabled and in need of assistance” before issuing the order on conservatorship, there do not seem to have been any claims that Oher could not manage his own finances, health or living situation. The court apparently found that it was in Oher’s “best interest.”  Nonetheless, the Tuohys were apparently given authority to act on behalf of Oher. Although they were appointed “conservators of the person,” which typically does not include control over finances, they were also given authority to approve any contract that Oher wished to sign. It’s unclear just what financial arrangements they undertook, other than those that Oher alleges related to “The Blind Side” he claims that a deal saw the Tuohys receive millions of dollars in royalties from the film. An attorney for the Tuohys strongly denied exploiting Oher, describing the lawsuit as a “shakedown”; they are reportedly preparing a legal response.

Little oversight

Conservatorships also called guardianships in some states can be useful to help people who cannot make their own decisions. Even then, to protect the individual’s autonomy, states typically require that conservators be given the least amount of power possible.  But there is typically very little oversight over conservatorships. Generally, a conservator is supposed to provide an annual report to the court. Under-resourced courts, however, may not be able to monitor the guardianship. It isn’t even clear how many conservatorships exist in the U.S., due to uneven record-keeping.  There are alternatives to guardianships. In advance of any incapacity, an individual can designate a trusted person, known as an “agent,” to act on their behalf through advance medical directives or financial powers of attorney. Another option is supported decision-making, in which the individual retains decision-making authority but receives help from other people. These arrangements can be informal or written as contracts.

Oher’s options

Oher has already asked the court to compel the Tuohys to stop using his name and image, to provide an accounting of and an end to the conservatorship, and to return any money which should have been paid to Oher. He is seeking information about his school records and any contracts related to the movie. Outside of the conservatorship system, Oher could sue for damages in the event of any breach of fiduciary duty or fraud.  When all the smoke is cleared, maybe Oher can persuade Hollywood to make a sequel to “The Blind Side” about his struggle with the conservatorship system.

90

Articles / Family Court refuses application to reopen findings made in 2016

« Last post by Forgotten Mother on August 31, 2023, 05:33:36 PM »

https://www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk/child-protection/392-children-protection-news/54782-family-court-refuses-application-to-reopen-findings-made-in-2016

Family Court refuses application to reopen findings made in 2016

August 15, 2023

A Family Court judge has rejected a mother’s “speculative and hopeful” application to reopen findings of fact made in 2016, which found her to be the perpetrator of injuries inflicted on her child when he was a small baby.  In Z, Re (Care Proceedings: Reopening of Fact Finding) [2023] EWFC 137, Mrs Justice Knowles concluded that she was “unpersuaded that there are solid grounds for believing that the 2016 findings [made by HHJ Orrell] require revisiting”.

Mrs Justice Lieven said the case concerned four children: a boy, Z aged 7; a girl, W aged 3; a boy, Y aged 2; and a girl, X aged 1.  Z, Y and X all share the same father. The identity of W's father was not known to the court.  Z's mother is the father's first partner, K. The father’s second partner, L, is the mother of W, Y and X.  All four children are the subject of care proceedings listed for next month.  The judge noted that all four children are in foster care. Z lives with his maternal aunt, the sister of K, and the three younger children live with foster carers.  Mrs Justice Knowles said: “This hearing was listed to determine K's application to reopen findings of fact made in 2016 by HHJ Orrell in the context of care proceedings brought by a different local authority in respect of Z when he was a small baby”.

In April 2016, a local authority issued care proceedings in respect of Z who was then just over three months old. Z was found to have sustained a number of serious injuries and the court directed that there should be a fact-finding hearing to determine how and by whom those injuries had been caused.  The fact-finding hearing was conducted in September 2016 by HHJ Orrell, who found the following:

a) Z had sustained four fractures to the ribs on his back and front. There was a small bruise under his left eye and a roughly circular bruise below the angle of his right jaw;

b) Z had significant bruising on the front and back of his chest and on his shoulder blades;

c) Z had sustained trauma to his liver and to the internal wall of his chest;

d) On the unchallenged medical evidence, these injuries were inflicted on two or more occasions;

e) The only people who could have caused these injuries were the father and K;

f) K was Z's primary carer;

g) Applying the criminal standard of proof, K inflicted both sets of injuries and the father had not inflicted any of the injuries;

h) K was described as being "manipulative, highly intelligent and has skilfully arranged the evidence and her recollections so as to implicate, somewhat obliquely, a very vulnerable father, particularly as it seems agreed between the parents in the past he accidentally inflicted a very small cut on [Z's] lip".

In March 2018, Z was placed into his father's care and K was permitted to have contact with Z five times each year, supervised by the local authority.  The judge noted that the father commenced a relationship with L in April 2020 and they began to cohabit in March 2021 after W was born. All four children lived with the father and L though Z visited his maternal aunt every fortnight for weekend staying contact. He continued to see his mother at contact supervised by the local authority.  In May 2022, Z's school made a referral to a different local authority due to safeguarding concerns it had about him. Z had alleged in May 2021 that his father had hit him and bitten him.  On 31 July 2022, X then a six-week-old baby was taken to hospital by L and paternal grandmother and, on investigation, was found to have sustained a number of significant injuries. “Those injuries were confirmed as findings of fact at the hearing in June 2023”, said Mrs Justice Knowles.

She added: “Additionally, I found that all the above injuries had been inflicted during probably two incidents of abusive handling involving different mechanisms. […] The injuries to X were inflicted by either her mother, L, or by the father.  The perpetrator of these injuries failed to obtain medical help for X at the time the injuries were caused. If the perpetrator of the older injuries was the father, L was aware of X's pain and distress in consequence and/or the causative events and failed to obtain medical help for X. Both the father and X failed to obtain timely medical help for X's acute injuries on 31 July 2022.”

The judge said that neither L nor the father gave her a “satisfactory, let alone, reliable or truthful account” of X's life.

She noted that following his removal from the family home, Z had told his maternal aunt that the father and L had "proper fights" in which each hit the other. Z said he had never been hit or hurt by anyone and denied telling his teachers that his father had hit him.  However, the local authority did not pursue any findings about this material at an early stage in the fact-finding hearing, a decision which the judge described as “wise”.  Turning to the positions of the parties, the judge said that counsel for the mother, K, submitted that there was “genuine new information which warranted that course”, namely:

(a) the father was now in a pool of perpetrators, restricted to just two, one of whom had inflicted very serious injuries on a small baby;

(b) the father had failed to obtain timely medical help for X;

(c) the injuries inflicted on X were strikingly similar to those inflicted on Z in 2016;

(d) there had been safeguarding concerns about Z and Z had said that his father had been fighting L in the family home; and

(e) the father had been found to be evasive, untruthful and unreliable when giving evidence on matters of critical importance.

The judge added, however, that counsel for the mother “accepted that K was not stating that she remembered new matters relevant to Z's injuries and she accepted that she had not acquitted herself well in cross-examination at the 2016 hearing.”

The local authority, the father and the children's guardian all opposed K's application.  Counsel for the local authority submitted that a pool finding in relation to the perpetrator of X's injuries was insufficient in combination with other factors to reopen HHJ Orrell's findings. It was submitted that there was unlikely to be a different outcome to any re-hearing as, subsequent to the hearing before HHJ Orrell, K stated that she had “never been away from Z long enough for the father to cause the injuries and thus did not know how the injuries had been caused”.

Counsel for the father submitted that an uncertain perpetrator finding was a relevant factor to weigh in the balance but required the court to evaluate the weight to be given to it by dissecting the evidence in the circumstances of the particular case. “[Counsel for the father] doubted that, given the passage of time and the concession made as to K's memory, any re-hearing was likely to lead to a different outcome by identifying the father as the sole perpetrator”, said Mrs Justice Knowles.

Counsel on behalf of the children submitted that the only material new information was the pool finding implicating the father together with the allegations of harm to Z which the local authority had not pursued. This new information had no impact on three fundamental aspects of the 2016 findings, namely, the mechanism of Z's injuries; who cared for Z and when; and Z's presentation at key points in the chronology.  Turning to the law on ‘reopening findings of fact’, the judge said: "Whether the court is prepared to entertain an application to reopen a finding will depend upon whether it is satisfied that the finding has actual or potential legal significance, in other words, whether it is likely to make a significant legal or practical difference to the arrangements that are to be made for the children.”

Turning to caselaw on an ‘Uncertain Perpetrator’ she said: “A pool finding or to put it more accurately inclusion on a list of those who had the opportunity to cause injury to a child is not a finding on the balance of probabilities that a person harmed a child. Thus, in itself, such a finding cannot when the court is considering whether or not to reopen findings of fact constitute reliable, direct evidence about the perpetration of earlier injuries (by analogy with the analysis set out in [43] of Re A (Children) (Pool of Perpetrators) [2022] EWCA Civ 1348).  However, in the context of an application to reopen findings of fact, inclusion on a list of those having the opportunity to injure a child can be information which invites further inquiry and which could contribute alongside other evidence to establishing solid grounds for believing that earlier findings require revisiting."

Mrs Justice Knowles concluded that she should refuse K's application to reopen the findings of fact made by HHJ Orrell in 2016. Setting out her reasoning, she said:  “First, there is a public interest in the finality of litigation and in matters not being relitigated without good reason, particularly in circumstances where the resources of the family justice system are under serious strain. The circumstances of this case do not constitute good reason for casting doubt on the findings made by HHJ Orrell.  Second, any re-hearing would undoubtedly import delay and uncertainty into decision-making about Z.  Third, the only material new information before the court is the pool finding made against the father and the allegations of harm outlined in paragraphs 10 and 14 above. With respect to the latter, the local authority did not invite me to make findings about these matters, a decision I described as wise in my fact-finding judgment. I did so because there are substantial forensic problems with these allegations such as inconsistent accounts given by Z together with a lack of other corroborative evidence. In my assessment, it would be very unlikely that a court would find them proved on the balance of probabilities.”

She noted that the pool finding means that the father is a possible perpetrator of the injuries to X and not a proven perpetrator. She added: “Though the father is the common denominator in respect of X's and Z's injuries, that feature does not make it so unlikely that the father and K could both have inflicted injuries on two separate children that solid grounds exist for reopening the 2016 findings.”

The judge continued: “Fourth, turning to the findings made by HHJ Orrell, these were made following a procedurally fair hearing where both the father and K were represented by counsel and where the court heard oral evidence from both of them. In his judgment, given ex tempore, HHJ Orrell identified inconsistencies between K's oral and written evidence which cast doubt on her credibility.”

She noted that the overall picture created by K's evidence was of someone not being honest about the circumstances in which Z came to be injured, adding that by contrast, the father was felt to be a “more honest and straightforward witness”.

She said that the impression created by K's evidence was reinforced by her position at the conclusion of the oral evidence that K “accepted the probability that she was responsible for causing the injuries to Z even though she had no memory of doing so”.

Lastly, turning to the effectiveness of any rehearing, the judge noted that she considered that the court would be faced with “substantial difficulties” if she were to permit the responsibility for Z's injuries to be relitigated. “Z was injured some 7 years ago, thereby compromising accurate memories of what happened in the family home”, she argued.

Despite observing that HHJ Orrell was entitled to identify K as the perpetrator of Z's injuries, the judge highlighted her consideration that he was “unwise” to make reference to the criminal standard in doing so.  She said: “Though HHJ Orrell came to his conclusions in 2016, well before the Court of Appeal deprecated the importation of concepts from the criminal law into family proceedings, he should not have expressed himself as being satisfied on the criminal standard of proof.  […] No matter how sure they are of their findings, family judges should avoid expressing themselves in the way HHJ Orrell did given the subsequent authoritative decisions of the Court of Appeal cited earlier in this judgment.”

Concluding, Mrs Justice Knowles said: “I am unpersuaded that there are solid grounds for believing that the 2016 findings require revisiting. The likely legal and practical difference consequent upon embarking on a rehearing is very limited for all the reasons I have examined.  Sadly, this application is speculative and hopeful and thereby fails to demonstrate that solid grounds for challenge to the 2016 findings exist.”

Lottie Winson