'Couple regarded as too intellectually slow to be parents must give up their two children'

Slow Parents are forced to have their Children Adopted

Steve Doughty (Social Affairs Correspondent)

DAILY MAIL - Wednesday, 11/14th August 2005

A couple regarded as too intellectually slow to be parents must give up their two children for adoption, a high court judge as ruled. Mrs Justice Pauffley said they could not keep their four year old daughter and 14-month-old son even though they have never harmed or neglected them.

She agreed with the social workers who claimed the children would be at risk if they continued to live at home. The Judge rebuked the couple for their ‘unreasonable’ refusal to give up their children and said their desire to raise them was ‘wholly unrealistic’.

The children were taken from the family home last year, even though the social workers admitted they were loved, clean, well dressed and fed.

The case as caused an outcry with protests from charities, academics and politicians.

There have also been protests over the secrecy of the family courts and social workers at Essex council who attempted to silence discussion and criticism of the case and the legal proceedings.

The couple, who cannot be named will now loose all contact with their children, who are currently with foster parents. They last had contact in November. They had challenged a earlier adoption order made by a judge in a family court.

After the High Court judgement, the 28-year-old mother, who often broke down in tears during the three-day hearing, said: “they made me out to be completely stupid and they said I had no relationship with my little girl. ‘But we used to do lots of things together. She liked to play with my hair and help me change the baby.

‘I love her and her brother and nothing will help me get over this. They have talked about counselling or me getting a job to take my mind off things but I cannot carry on unless I get them back’. The couple will do not know whether they will be allowed to say good-bye before the children are adopted.

The mother said: ‘I don’t think it would be a good idea to see them because it would upset my little girl because she might think we have come to bring her home’. The couple have been told they will receive photographs or a video of the children twice a year.

The 37 year-old father said: ‘That is all we will have. A social worker told us we could see them when they are eighteen. Everyone says we have done nothing wrong but we are being punished. It is breaking our hearts.’

The mother as an IQ of 60. She can read and write although as difficulty in understanding ideas. The father has been assessed as having no learning difficulty. He has worked for the same firm for 22 years.

Social Workers said their daughter had ‘suffered significant emotional harm’ because of the mothers’ lack of responsiveness and the fact neither parent could ‘demonstrate an ability consistently to provide stimulation’.

The judge said: ‘They are decent people but are not capable of managing the intricate anticipatory of parenting.’

Email: s.doughty@dailymail.co.uk