Tuesday 9 February 2021

Children

 I'm a member of a lot of boater groups on Facebook, some are full of useful information. Unfortunately some are also full of misogynistic old buggers who don't think women should be allowed on the canal.

All that aside, being a member of these groups means seeing post from from boaters I would usually avoid.

Today  a boater has posted about social services having taken their children into care. Now I am not a huge fan of social workers, having come across some pretty crap ones in my time working in a school. But the boater who has lost their children is claiming that the children have been taken for no reason. 

The boater was moored near us for a 2 weeks a couple of summer's ago, in that week we were frequently disturbed by late night alcohol fuelled arguments and fights as the boaters ex turned up and demanded access to one of the children. The boaters mother turned up to demand that the boater took back the child that the boater had dumped on her. Then the boater started an affair with the local pub owner, published on Facebook graphic details of the affair and had numerous punch ups with the partner of said pub owner, details of which were also posted on Facebook!

If this was an average fortnight in the life of this boater then I am not surprised Social Services stepped in.

The children my daughter cares for all came from homes where domestic violence was a regular occurrence, invariably enhanced by drug or alcohol addiction.



6 comments:

mamasmercantile said...

My heart breaks for all those little mites. Thank the Lord for people like your daughter who nurture these children.

the veg artist said...

I remember a woman explaining to me how having a few more children would give them much more money (ie benefits). They didn't actually like/want more children, but they had them anway - for the extra money. The benefits cap has probably put an end to this, at least.

Tracy said...

It makes you wonder what experiences that woman had as a child, since she clearly thinks that she has done nothing wrong in bringing up her own kids. Let's hope that this is a bright new beginning for them and that the cycle isn't repeated when they have kids of their own.

Chris said...

So sad! Poor kids, I hope they land somewhere more welcoming.

Debby said...

We had a front page story yesterday about a mother who was taking drugs while pregnant. The child was born addicted. The mother breastfed the baby for a few weeks, but was being jailed for retail theft. Her solution was to freeze breast milk for the babe and to leave 9 tablets of medication to be ground into the baby's formula when the breast milk was gone. The boyfriend called the mother in jail (mind you, the phone calls are monitored. The prisoners know this). The baby was screaming. According the the BF had been screaming for days. The mother asked about whether the baby was 'getting her medicine'. The father said, "We're out."
A furious argument ensured with the father exclaiming, "Well, you've got ME hooked on the stuff too!" The police went to the house straightaway and the baby was taken straight to the hospital, where the drug was identified. The poor thing is withdrawing right now.

I have begun a 4 year theology course and one of the other students is a lawyer. She knew the couple. They have two other children who were removed in their state. The couple just moved to a new state and started over again.

kate steeper said...

I cant help but wish that Social Services were much more proactive , this years saga of Young Baldrick could have been solved by taking his child into care where the poor mite mght stand some chance in life . The best we heard was that the childs problems are lack of stimulation and affection . They never talked to us the grandparents again after we pointed out that as a couple they never barely get out of bed , gaming was of more interest than the child and staring at walls while monged out on drugs regardless that one of them was on heavy duty perscription drugs isnt much use to a child . A few online parenting classes will im sure help ..ho hum

This weeks veg box.

  Another nice selection of fruit and veg for this week, I'll share it with Betty again.