Forgotten Mothers UK
General => Articles => Topic started by: Forgotten Mother on July 23, 2022, 01:08:38 PM
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https://www.barrons.com/news/forced-adoption-a-lifetime-of-trauma-for-british-mothers-01657922407
'Forced Adoption': A Lifetime Of Trauma For British Mothers
By AFP - Agence France Presse
July 15, 2022
Sue O'Callaghan knows the utter despair that thousands of British mothers felt when they were forced to give up their babies. "To go into labour knowing you're going to lose your child is just absolutely terrifying and the grief never goes away," she told AFP.
O'Callaghan was pregnant with her fourth child around 20 years ago, having already lost access to her other three children after her husband told social services that she was mentally unfit to take care of them. "On my due date there was a knock on the door. Social services arrived with the police. They took the (children) out of the bath into the police car," she recalled.
She then faced the prospect of having her newborn removed at birth. "I went in to deliver her in hospital under lock and key," she explained. "Social workers were at the door with a car seat ready to take her away."
O'Callaghan, now in her 50s, was able to keep the baby after the psychiatrist on site gave her a clean bill of health. But she said other mothers she now helps were not as lucky, and their babies have been taken from hospital at just five days old. Campaigners and parents warn "forced adoption" is rife today, with thousands of children taken away from their mothers, often because they suffer mental health issues or domestic violence. "I've watched fathers scream and scream and scream so the whole hospital could hear it. One mother just went silent. She just didn't speak for about three months. I wish people could see what happens because my experience is people say 'there's no smoke without fire'. But the trauma and the horror, even for the baby is unimaginable. You don't treat animals that way. You don't treat human beings like that. It's horrible beyond belief."
O'Callaghan eventually won her legal fight, but the trauma of the experience left her and her children suffering panic attacks. She emigrated to New Zealand with her children, who are now in their late teens and early twenties. She now campaigns for an overhaul of the system, and has written a book, "Taken", which describes her story and that of hundreds of other mothers in Britain every year. O'Callaghan complained the decision to take her children away was made by social workers and psychiatrists who had little contact with the family. "The minute I walked in that door for a series of assessments over a three-month period, I knew the report about me had already been written," she said from her home in Auckland.
Social workers say they are following the law, which in England only takes into account the well-being of the child. This means that mothers risk losing their children if they are victims of domestic abuse or suffering from mental health issues. Mothers who have already lost children are then at high risk of having any future children removed at birth. O'Callaghan said mothers faced an uphill battle against the system once their children had been removed. O'Callaghan, who is now a trained trauma therapist, is one of a growing number of campaigners worried about the long-term effect of permanently removing children from their birth parents. The numbers of children being adopted against their parents' will rose sharply at the turn of the century. Many of those removed will soon be turning 18, and be legally able to find out the details of their case. "The innate need for us to understand where we come from is huge. So yes, all these children will want to know where they're coming from," added O'Callaghan. "My children were returned to me within a year, and I can say that panic attacks, self-harm, suicidal ideation, identity crisis, depression has hit them all apart from the baby."
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The Barron's news department was not involved in the creation of the content above. This story was produced by AFP. For more information go to AFP.com.
© Agence France-Presse