NEWS RELEASE 14 February 2014
ABOLISH ADOPTIONS without PARENTAL CONSENT
Petitions of Latvian, Russian and Lithuanian Mothers and on behalf of thousands of victims in the UK before EU Committee
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/committees/en/peti/home.html
A court hearing to protest the forced removal of children from their parents by a London Council has been timed to coincide with the presentation of a petition to the European Parliament to seek redress for similar actions by different councils for thousands of families nationwide. The petition has attracted over 2,500 signatures on http://www.change.org/petitions/eu-parliament-abolish-adoptions-without-parental-consent
A special meeting of the EU Petitions Committee will receive also a petition on 19 March from Latvian Laila Brice, whose five year old daughter was taken by Merton Council without a court order and put up for adoption.
On the same day Haringey Council will apply to the British Family court for the adoption of the two youngest of Gloria and Chiwar Musa[i] whose older five children were forcefully removed by police acting for the Council and the parents later jailed for supposedly having abused them.
The Association of McKenzie Friends, a voluntary organisation that supports both families, is campaigning to stop the forced removal of children from their parents and their subsequent fostering or adoption without due process.
The Association also decries the secrecy of family courts[ii], gagging orders with threat of imprisonment, and forced adoptions, which it says are unique in the UK[iii] Writing in The Telegraph, Christopher Booker described the situation as an international scandal[iv].
McKenzie Friends chair Belinda McKenzie believes the timing of the two events is not coincidental. “The courts will have known that we will be in Brussels to hand over the petition. What better time to schedule the Musa adoption hearing?” she said.
McKenzie Friends have documented and published many other cases where the children were forcibly removed from their parents under questionable circumstances.
“These are mostly immigrant families or vulnerable single mothers whom councils should be helping, not terrorising,” McKenzie said.
“The secrecy of the family courts was meant to protect children. Instead it is protecting shameful and unethical behaviour by the authorities.”
ends
For more details, please contact Sabine K McNeill on 07968 039 141 or sabine@3d-metrics.com
Notes and links for editors:
- The Association of McKenzie Friends[v] is an unfunded network of individuals. It has come together to help parents whose children were taken and who were then imprisoned, fending for themselves as Litigants in Person[vi]. Their petition Children Placed in Foster Care[vii] was put before the House of Commons on 3 September 2013 without any response so far.
- Foreigners among women[viii] whose children are targeted have also been observed by Vicky Haigh[ix]. She was imprisoned for 3 years for supposedly having breached a ‘non-molestation order’ – by saying ‘hello’ when she saw her daughter accidentally at a petrol station. She has not seen her now 10-year old daughter since, after she was given to her abusive father. She was the first victim named by John Hemming MP in Parliament: Gag removed job done[x]. Her ‘non-molestation order’ for no contact has just been renewed for 3 years.
- John Hemming is the only MP who reliably stands up for victims of family courts. He is Chairman of Justice for Families[xi] and has organised a meeting for foreign embassies that resulted in the Early Day Motion International Concerns about UK Law[xii].
- Christopher Booker’s column in The Telegraph addresses the issue regularly. He wrote 14 articles[xiii] about the Musas and 2 about Melissa Laird[xiv].
- The publisher of Forced Adoption as a book and website is Ian Josephs who has a law degree from Oxford and runs a language school in Monaco. He advises up to 10 parents a day by phone and has spent over £30,000 to help families.
- Abolish Adoption without Parental Consent[xv] is an online petition before the EU Parliament which is supported by a 12-page Dossier of Online Evidence[xvi].
UK Family Law Reform is a very comprehensive website with a unique ‘megaphone’ to send emails to media, local authorities and MPs.
Originally posted on 
