Lithuanian MPs petition Lords Speaker over child custody case

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/may/12/lithuanian-mps-lords-speaker-child-custody-case

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A delegation of Lithuanian MPs has written to the House of Lords complaining about the removal of a 12-year-old girl from her mother, alleging that she is being deprived of her cultural inheritance.

The letter, sent to the Speaker of the House of Lords, Lady D’Souza, is the second high-profile intervention by a Baltic state in UK care proceedings this year and reflects a growing rift between EU states over practices in custody proceedings.

In March, senior Latvian parliamentarians wrote to the Speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow, raising similar concerns over the fate of a six-year-old girl who had been put up for adoption by a council in south London.

Neither of the children involved can be identified but both have become the subject of political campaigns in their native countries to change the way the social services in the UK deal with EU citizens.

The Lithuanian letter, signed by 17 members of the Seimas, the country’s parliament, was sent to D’Souza to make a political point about a court case that is due to be heard this week.

The letter claims that a south London borough “breached the Vienna convention on consular relations which aims to protect the interests of foreign national children by requiring consular notification whenever these children come into the custody of the state”.

It says the mother in the case has dealt with her alcohol problem but has not been reunited with her daughter. “As a result the Lithuanian child was alienated not only from her mother but from all her native Lithuanian family,” it reads. “The authorities of the Republic of Lithuania are concerned with safeguarding the rights of its citizens, especially underage ones, to maintain their citizenship, ethnic identity, native language, family ties and connection to the cultural and historical heritage of their country of origin.”

The MPs are asking for the case to be transferred to a court in Lithuania.

In a separate letter to the UK embassy in the capital, Vilnius, a Lithuanian MP accuses the UK of breaching the UN convention on the rights of the child by failing to preserve the girl’s national identity.

The mother, who cannot obtain legal aid, is due to represent herself in her attempt to have her child returned to her. The family court in London has been told that she has stopped drinking and changed her lifestyle. The Lithuanian embassy has been granted the status of legal observer in the case.

A House of Lords spokesperson confirmed that the Lithuanian letter had been received but said it was not the Speaker’s responsibility to deal with childcare cases.

Judgment is still awaited in the Latvian adoption case. Commenting on that case in March, a spokesperson at the Department for Education, which is responsible for adoption policy, said: “The decision to remove a child from their family rests with the courts, who are independent and outside of government.

“UK law, which is compatible with EU law and the UN convention on the rights of the child, is crystal clear that this should only happen when they are sure children are suffering or likely to suffer significant harm.

“When considering placements for children in care, local authorities have a duty to first consider care by family and friends, including those living outside the UK.”