Midland parents plan to take social services battle to Europe

Oct 3 2010 by Jonny Greatrex, Sunday Mercury

The dad and his wife Sarah claim they were never told who had spoken to the council, or what risk they were alleged to pose to their kids – now aged 13, nine and seven.

Full-time campaigner Steve, 35, added: “There are so many families fighting injustices in the Family Courts system, but at the moment they have no way of presenting a case to the local authority.

“We have lodged a class action with the International Criminal Court as a group. If they rule in our favour and agree our human rights have been breached, we could start bringing individual prosecutions against family courts, councils or even social workers. We could then possibly get our children back.”

Stuart and Sarah had their children taken off them in March 2009. They now see their sons for just two hours a month, under supervision from a social worker.

“We were told social services had an anonymous referral and believed our children to be at ‘risk of future emotional harm’,” the dad said.

“No-one ever said what this was or why they were at risk.

“We went to the Family Court but felt the legal advice we got was awful. I wish I had represented us myself now, as I know far more about the system.”

The Hague crusade has been backed by John Hemming, Lib Dem MP for Yardley, Birmingham, who has spoken out about the secrecy of Family Courts in the past.

“There are systemic problems in the Family Courts, including that you are only allowed one expert and have no right to a second opinion,’’ he said.

“This has caused tens of thousands of miscarriages of justice which were exacerbated under the previous Government. But because the cases happen in secret courts, they do not receive publicity.”