Be Safe. Ensure You Have Evidence of your IQ Before Sex

I trust I'm not treading on the toes of my fellow blogger, who has professional experience in these matters, but I was angry when I read an article in the Telegraph this morning. 'Court bans man with low IQ from having sex' states the headline.

The Court of Protection, that little-known authority whose proceedings are secret, has judged, on a 41-year-old man with an IQ of 48, that he 'should not be allowed to have sex with anyone on the grounds that he did not have the mental capacity to understand the health risks associated with his actions'.  Under the Mental Capacity Act 2005, Court of Protection judges have the power to make life and death decisions for people deemed to lack the intelligence to make them for themselves.

The man named as Alan, had been in a sexual relationship with a man with whom he lived and told officials "It would make me feel happy" for it to continue. However, his local council disagreed and decided his 'vigorous sex drive' was inappropriate because of his IQ and he did not understand what he was doing.

Alan lived in a home provided by the council and was also accused of making lewd gestures at children in a dentists' surgery and on a bus, although no police action was taken.

In June 2009 the local authority began court proceedings to restrict his contact with his friend on the grounds that he lacked mental capacity and an interim order was made to that effect.  "Since then Alan has been subjected to close supervision to prevent any further sexual activity on his part," except when he is alone in his bedroom.

So masturbating doesn't carry health risks according to the judge.  I have a retired nursing friend who worked in A & E most of her career and she would firmly contradict that statement.  She could keep anyone enthralled for hours with her accounts of the amusing and more serious cases of male masturbation she treated in her days in the front line.

More seriously, surely if Alan was told he must use condoms that was all that was needed, but to deny him a sex life is appalling.  By all accounts he wasn't putting himself or the other person involved at any risk and the judge had obvious difficulty finding a reason to enforce this order.

The judge said it requires an understanding and awareness of the 'mechanics of the act'.  How many people, stoned out of their minds on a Friday or Saturday night, have a clue about the mechanics of the act?  But, because they have a higher IQ than Alan, they're exempt - for now. It won't be long though before this becomes commonplace.

It wasn't so long ago a bonny girl was stopped, by Fife social services, from marrying her boyfriend because they judged her 'too stupid' to understand the vows.  They didn't give up there though.  When she was breast feeding her three day old son Ben in the maternity ward, they came and took the child into care because they 'feared she lacked the intelligence to be a good mother'.  Of course this case was child kidnapping wrapped up in lies. Fortunately their story has a happy ending but it's not always so.

source

Tweet

Forced Adoption

Booker has another article about the theft of small children by social services this morning.

The fact that politicians insist everything in the garden is rosy speaks volumes.  Why are they so 'frit' (as Cameron said to Angus Robertson this week) about tackling these secret courts?

It's long past time the hermetically sealed Family Court system was abolished and another system put in place - one in which the fate of parents and children cannot be decided by an incestuously closed community of social workers, police, lawyers, doctors and other professional 'experts', who all too often seem to work together in an alliance which seems ruthlessly oblivious to the interests of the families who fall into its clutches.

Forced adoption is doubly wicked because it is a 'life sentence' where the adopted children are permanently deprived of contact only only with their parents but also with their adult siblings, grandparents, aunts and uncles.  The parents are ruthlessly jailed by secret courts if they dare to protest publicly or reveal identities of any witnesses.

The video is a few years old but nothing has changed as far as I'm aware.  I wish Eric Pickles would readdress the situation now he is in a position of power.

The problem is also increasing in Scotland with the number of children taken away from their parents having almost doubled in the last three years.  Two thirds of the children were babies and toddlers under five.

Of course it's nothing to do with the money local authorities receive for achieving their adoption targets (the link details only English councils).

As a society, should we accept that local authorities have adoption targets?  Of course not. Is it right that LAs receive bonuses for the number of children they acquire for adoption?  Of course not.

There will be children who require to be taken into care for one reason or another, but with only around 5% being returned to their parents, something is wrong somewhere. This is not a subject in which I have experience but I do have an interest, like most people, in the wellbeing of our children and the preservation of family life.

Tweet

Why Doesn't This Case Invoke the HRA?

In recent years there have been several stories about social services 'stealing' children in order to reach adoption targets.

Now social services have moved on to 'stealing' adults.

Stephen Neary is a 20 year old man with autism.  His father asked his local authority's respite centre, where Stephen had been once before, for help when he had flu.

Please read the whole story and sign the petition.  Don't expect it to be heart-warming because it's not.  Remember, this could happen to someone dear to you if legislation isn't changed to make it impossible.

Why is it prisoners can invoke the RHA yet a case such as this is refused the right?

Tweet

Lessons Are Never Learned

Bear with me on this one please.

These three children are dead. They were found in an Edinburgh flat on Wednesday and their mother is said to have jumped from a balcony and sustained serious injuries.

Their parents, Theresa and Pasquale Riggi (both American). were involved in a bitter divorce battle and their mother was due to attend court on Tuesday for a hearing regarding the case. She didn't attend.

The mother and the children went missing on 4 July from the family home at Skene near Aberdeen. The husband had moved out of the house and was staying at a flat in Aberdeen. He didn't find out until 11 July that his wife and the children had left and called police to report them missing. Ports and airports were alerted in case the mother tried to leave the country with the children. Grampian police issued a missing persons appeal on 16 July.

Then, on 21 July, Lothian and Borders officers traced the mother and the children to the flat in Slateford Road, Edinburgh where Wednesday's tragedy unfolded. At that point, it was a simple missing persons inquiry. A police spokesman said: "Officers attended the address and found the family safe and well on 21 July."

That's what is known until last Tuesday, when at the Court, after the husband had spoken to his wife by phone, his lawyer told Lady Clark, who was the judge at the hearing, that Mr Riggi had concerns about his children. Mr Riggi's lawyer said there was a real emergency and Lady Clark obviously concurred with his statement. She asked court officials to find the children and said social workers should supervise them. She also stated that the social workers should apply to a local sheriff for child protection orders if they felt they were necessary.

That was Tuesday.

Edinburgh City Council said their social workers had no reason to get involved with the family before Lady Clark made her order. They said in a statement: "We received a phone call yesterday afternoon (I suspect that was Tuesday although the article is not clear) from lawyers regarding the court proceedings involving the family.

"The court's ruling was then faxed through to us at 15.05. Was this on the Tuesday or Wednesday? "In this fax we were asked to assist with the family's situation if and when they were found by the messenger at arms representing the court." By that time it was too late.

The police knew where the mother and children were yet they weren't informed of the court order.

What has gone wrong with the communication between these agencies who are supposed to protect us? Why are courts using a fax system for information when there are so many systems available these days and yet a phone call didn't seem important? Taxpayers spend billions on services such as justice, police and social workers. Government appears to have personal details on each and every one of us.

We hear so much verbosity from these agencies about how they communicate and will 'learn lessons'. I've no wish to attribute blame to anyone, yet it's deeply concerning that a phone call and a fax to the local council appears to be enough for these agencies to will no doubt, eventually, blame each other.

I can remember the days when police knew everything and we didn't have social workers - or not those who are called social workers these days. These were the days when home schooling had never been heard of, yet this mother insisted her children were home school and the father protested. These were the days when a court order was acted upon immediately by the police. But now it appears it has to initially go to the local council. Why? I suspect some left-thinking labour politician here in Scotland thought up a reason which the courts lapped up.

Surely, if children don't attend school the relevant social work authority should be on red alert? Then again, none of our regular services seems to come under the regulations set for the military. Why can't lessons be learnt? Because our law enforcers are charged with teaching them.

Update: I have been accused of denigrating home education (see comments). My use of the words 'red alert' regarding social work authorities was in connection with this particular case when allegedly the children and their mother had earlier become listed as missing persons. It's my opinion that social work too should have been informed they were missing regardless of whether they were state educated, privately educated or home educated. Also I was not aware the law had been changed regarding home education. I know years ago home educators and the children were monitored on a regular basis - usually to provide the parent with updates from educational developments which they may have missed. There was no internet in those days.

This post is not about home education, it's about the agencies involved in this case and their procedures which were totally inadequate. There's no excuse in today's society for this inefficiency. I can hear the relevant agencies saying 'lessons will be learned'. They never are.

source

Tweet

Indignity Personified

Mrs Figg being removed from her daughter's home by social care services

It was Channel 4 news which brought this shameful and disturbing story to my attention.  Betty Figg is 86 years old and has dementia.  Last June social services advised her daughter that her mother should go into a home and Mrs Figg was moved to Butts Croft House, Corley, Warwickshire in August, with the £2,000 a month fees being paid by the family.  In October Mrs Figg fell out of bed and was starting to lose wight so her daughter decided to give up her pottery business to care for her at home.  A downstairs bedroom was created, an ensuite bathroom, wheelchair ramps were installed and a special bed delivered with sensors in the mattress so an alarm would wake them if the old lady got up in the night.

But a council occupational health specialist ruled the three-bedroomed semi-detached home was still not suitable for Mrs Figg and after a hospital stay she was returned to Butts Croft House.  Her mother had expressed her unhappiness at being there and Miss Figg (daughter) was not pleased with the standard of care so, last Saturday as usual she took her mother from the home but decided not to return her.  Prior to this she had contacted the police to ask their advice and she was told it was a civil matter and of no concern to them.  Within two days Mrs Figg was responding much better in her family environment.

However, Coventry City Council obtained an 'emergency warrant' under the Mental Health Act on the grounds that a 'person believed to be suffering from a mental disorder is being ill treated and neglected' and two days later the old lady was snatched back by social services.  A distraught Mrs Figg was wheeled to a car with a blanket over her head after police, who had been called in as back-up, threatened to smash the door with a battering ram if the family did not hand her over.  "Mum was escorted out of my house in her wheelchair and had a towel thrown over her head as though she was some kind of prisoner," said Miss Figg.

The photograph, which was taken by a neighbour on their mobile phone, speaks a thousand words.  What is this country coming to when a person is seized from their loving family because some official thinks the family aren't capable of caring for her?  Why did the police get involved when they said they would not?  

This whole incident upsets me.  I've been in receipt of the state pension for a couple of years and I know, as I age, that it's true we lose certain abilities but I would hate to think I will lose my dignity.  This shows that others nowadays have a licence to remove it and that scares me.  It should be my choice where I live and should I be unfortunate like Mrs Figg, then I trust my family to make the right choices.  My family should be helped to care for me.  

My experience of social care for the elderly is not good, they were less than helpful in the last few months of my mother's life but I was fortunate insofar as I had friends who provided excellent advice.  I'll be sending a copy of this post to my own family to make them fully aware of their lack of power in such a situation.  Coventry City Council should take a long, hard look at their conduct and never again allow anyone to suffer such indignity.

Source Daily Mail

Tweet