Nanny State Wants her Baby

I just came across this news article from the UK, where a young woman who previously had an eating disorder is being told her unborn baby will be taken away from her upon birth. So now the Nanny State is taking things even further? This woman has straightened herself out in the past seven years, is attending college and seems to want this baby very badly. So why do they want to take away her firstborn child? Because they claim she has a record of being a danger to herself, and thus she cannot care for a baby.

I too, was once labeled anorexic, and saw many school psychologists because of family issues early in my life. Yet - none of these things has any bearing on my ability to care for my daughter now. The idea implied by this is 'once troubled, always troubled.' That is in itself frightening.

She contacted social services herself knowing that she would be 'assessed.' They had three doctors, two of which knew her, provide opinions. The two who knew her said she wasn't a risk, and the third one reccommended she be assessed after the birth to see if her previous self-harming habits would affect her ability to parent.

FTA: In a letter, Dr Ward Platt said: "If the professionals were concerned from the evidence available that [this woman] probably does fabricate or induce illness, there would be no option but to put the baby into foster care at birth pending a post-natal forensic psychological assessment."

...Dr Ward Platt also recommended that Fran be assessed by professionals. Social services drew up their "birth plan" without doing any of these assessments. In October, Fran was told the plan would mean that Molly would be immediately removed into care, minutes after she was born. Fran was also told she could not be trusted to breast-feed her, for fear that she might try to take strychnine as a way of poisoning her own child.

yay for common sense...*sarcasm*

This is a terribly trgic situation - and I hope this young woman, who has fled the U.K. to escape these sanctions, can raise her child safely and in peace.