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| Forced adoption claims dismissed | Forced adoption claims dismissed |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| The Children's Minister Kevin Brennan has denied claims that young children are being taken into care by local authorities to meet adoption targets. | The Children's Minister Kevin Brennan has denied claims that young children are being taken into care by local authorities to meet adoption targets. |
| Mr Brennan has written to two national newspapers to say there has never been any financial incentive for councils to meet national adoption targets. | Mr Brennan has written to two national newspapers to say there has never been any financial incentive for councils to meet national adoption targets. |
| The claims surfaced over the case of a baby in Nottingham placed into care just hours after being born. | The claims surfaced over the case of a baby in Nottingham placed into care just hours after being born. |
| Liberal Democrat MP John Hemming has accused the council of baby-stealing. | Liberal Democrat MP John Hemming has accused the council of baby-stealing. |
| No financial incentive | No financial incentive |
| In a letter to The Times and The Daily Mail, Mr Brennan says there were national adoption targets designed to place more children in care into loving, family homes. | In a letter to The Times and The Daily Mail, Mr Brennan says there were national adoption targets designed to place more children in care into loving, family homes. |
| But, he writes, "they ended in 2006; and there was never a financial incentive for local authorities to meet these national targets". | But, he writes, "they ended in 2006; and there was never a financial incentive for local authorities to meet these national targets". |
| Mr Hemming told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that, "there remain differential funding streams, so effectively the local authority are put under pressure to drive things towards adoption." | Mr Hemming told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that, "there remain differential funding streams, so effectively the local authority are put under pressure to drive things towards adoption." |
| He is backing the Nottingham mum in her legal fight to be reunited with her baby. | He is backing the Nottingham mum in her legal fight to be reunited with her baby. |
| On Friday, a judge ruled that the baby girl must stay in foster care until the teenager's health can be assessed. Social services are questioning her mental fitness. | On Friday, a judge ruled that the baby girl must stay in foster care until the teenager's health can be assessed. Social services are questioning her mental fitness. |
| A day earlier, the High Court ordered the baby be returned to his mother, saying the council had acted unlawfully in removing her. | A day earlier, the High Court ordered the baby be returned to his mother, saying the council had acted unlawfully in removing her. |
| Time to bond | |
| The BBC's social affairs correspondent Sue Littlemore says anonymous legal judgments in most adoption cases are fuelling the confusion. | The BBC's social affairs correspondent Sue Littlemore says anonymous legal judgments in most adoption cases are fuelling the confusion. |
| She says that for the sake of the child, the reasoning is kept private, which means harnessing public support and understanding will always be difficult. | She says that for the sake of the child, the reasoning is kept private, which means harnessing public support and understanding will always be difficult. |
| Nationwide, directors of children's services say that far from growing, adoption is in fact a minority activity. | Nationwide, directors of children's services say that far from growing, adoption is in fact a minority activity. |
| Children do better if they're in adoptive care than in long-term local authority care Ian Johnston, head of British Association of Social Workers | |
| Officially, numbers have stayed around 3,500 a year since 2001 and in the last three years, they have fallen. | |
| The head of the British Association of Social Workers, Ian Johnston, told the BBC that social workers face a very difficult task in weighing up the rights of the child and the needs of parents. | |
| "If a child is not going to be able to be looked after by their natural parents, the sooner a long-term substitute arrangement is made the better," he went on. | |
| "Children do better if they're in adoptive care than in long-term local authority care". | |
| But Sarah Harman, a family solicitor who specialises in adoption cases, said: "It's very rarely necessary to remove babies from mothers because they are most often in hospital and a hospital can be made a secure environment. The child can be put in a nursery and the mother can have supervised contact." | |
| She added: "It is right that if a parent is not going to be able to care for a baby...you need to make those assessments sooner rather than later. But you don't need to make them before the child has had time to bond with the mother". |