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Five police, Five children, a distraught mother – and a less than helpful mp.... ...is something odd going on in Devon & Plymouth?
Some strange goings on down Plymouth way, it seems - where earlier this month (October 2009) three police cars and five police officers were required to remove five small children from a mother's home in her absence. In my neck of the woods, you'd be lucky to get that kind of turnout for a murder. The mother concerned is Bernadette McManus. She breeds horses and dogs on a large patch of land near to her home in a small Devon village. She is not on any welfare, but she does appear on the surface to represent the archetypal broken-culture-mother: six children by three partners. She is also however a devout Catholic, and has her own affiliated breeding name of Dodgewells. There are breeding rosettes covering the cork board in her sitting room. At the start of the month she left the house for a short time in order to tend to some work on her land. Technically this was an offence - as the eldest child there (three older ones live with previous partners) was only 13 years 9 months old. The legal age is fourteen for a child to be in charge alone. Neighbour Barbara Giradot explained to us that just five minutes after Ms Mcmanus left her home, three police cars which had been hidden at the end of the street cruised up to her house and entered. When Bernadette returned (she says, some fifty minutes later) she was abruptly informed that the children were to be taken from her on the grounds of abandonment. To make that charge stick, the police and Devon social services would have to show a clear intention by the mother not to return. They can't do that because it isn't true, but the kids are now in care anyway....following a 7th October hearing in Plymouth, at which no judge was present. Another neighbour alleges that when tackled as to why three cars and five officers were in the vicinity, an officer replied "We were told about a dog on the loose". McManus alleges in turn that when she asked the police (who'd invaded the house for evidence of her uncaring role) the grounds for child neglect, another officer commented, "Well for a start, the dishes are still in the sink unwashed". I could not possibly comment on the veracity or relevance of those answers to the price of fish, or indeed Emergency Protection Orders – but an EPO is exactly what Bernadette got. Shortly afterwards, McManus went to see the Devon social services. She claims they told her that the problem was an over-indulgence in breeding animals at the expense of her children. They advised her to sell the animals.....and the land. This would be an odd suggestion to make, because without these she has no income at all; she's pestered the CSA to make her previous partners cough up, and of course they haven't – even though she knows at least one is working. But it also struck McManus as something of a coincidence, given she had only the previous Spring been offered what she calls 'silly money' for her ten acres. The price quoted (in cash) was £48,000. Just two months earlier, it'd been valued at £21,000. The distraught mother turned now to her MP Gary Streeter. But Mr Streeter (himself a former lawyer) allegedly offered his considered opinion that the social services had an entirely sound case and thus he didn't want to get involved. Perhaps in order to emphasise his view still further, Streeter followed up the opinion in writing. This letter Bernadette retains. Below is a photocopy extract from the original I was shown; Mr Streeter acknowledges Bernadette’s strong disagreement with the letter she received from social services, but says it….
Well no actually, Gary, her Devon SS letter doesn’t explain why it would be ‘extremely ill-judged’ of her to make a fuss – so you’ll have to enlighten us re that one. Personally, I would offer an opinion (which of course can be discounted, for I have no legal training whatsoever) that this sounds more like a threat than a confirmatory letter from an MP to his constituent. But I’m sure Mr Streeter will explain why it isn’t: in fact, I’d say that to do so would be extremely well-judged on his part – and the sooner the better.
Streeter…man of letters But I digress: let's return to Bernadette McManus, and why it took five cops to remove five children (the youngest still being breast-fed) from danger at her hands. The short answer is, as yet we don't know for certain - because there could be several motives...or of course, none at all beyond a desire to protect the kids from a dangerously neglectful (and, social services now allege, abusive) mother. Perhaps one motive concerns the dramatic growth in private child fostering. For example, just down the road from where McManus lives is Tavistock - where her local social services branch is based. In Tavistock itself, the local offices of The Fostering Foundation (despite its name, a non-charitable limited company) are to be found. An nby reporter rang the offices of The Fostering Foundation in Tavistock the week before last. There, a Tracy Norman told her that the going rate to foster a child is now £490 a week. The agency was, she said, "urgently looking for foster parents to take in females 2-16 years and boys 3-17". These, she averred, had been neglected and/or abused. And like she said, they needed foster parents 'urgently'. Just like Bernadette's, apparently. Some locals offer a slightly different view. They say the word has gone out following the Baby P Haringey fiasco that social services must be more vigilant. In short, a period of SS dereliction is now to be followed by one of extreme vigilance. And there is a private sector ready and willing to take on the fostering that may result from any witch-hunts. They’re certainly right about that. Just fifteen years ago, there were eleven Independent Fostering Agencies (IFAs) in the UK. By 1998 there were six times as many. Today 100,000 children are in foster care in the UK - but in the intervening period, the Children's Arrangements Statutory Instrument (2005) passed the Commons. An inspector in Lincolnshire made the following comments during a 2008 report regarding the impact of this legislation: 'Private fostering arrangements are not regulated services, they are private arrangements between parents and carers...New systems and practices are only partially implemented and, although they have been clearly explained and their potential impact has been well demonstrated, this inspection has also had to consider the impact of previous inconsistent, and sometimes unsafe practices, on the placements of young people currently in private fostering arrangements.' One must beware the sweeping statement, but we have all seen the way in which, once the profit instinct gets involved in social provision (be that of mail, rail transport or water) things get confused, corners get cut and old rules fall into abeyance. In neighbouring Plymouth, for example, there can be no doubt (as the evidence is there for all to see) that the City Council's childcare track record has not always been a shiny one. In December 2005, the Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI) wrote to Plymouth Council's CEO Barry Keel as follows: 'Staying safe: Outcomes in this area are unsatisfactory. Social services have faced a substantial agenda for change in 2004-05. Overall performance indicators suggest an improving picture. The 2004 service inspection identified a range of areas where changes had yet to work through as improved outcomes for children, young people and their families. The 2005 service inspectionrecognised that a lot of work had been done but that much remained to be achieved, and that in some areas key priorities had been missed. Of 18 recommendations in the 2004 social services inspection, adequate or good progress had been made against only 3. Minimal, slight or no progress had been made against the remaining 15 recommendations. This is a very unsatisfactory position. Some of the continuing shortcomings are picked up within sections of this letter, while a more detailed analysis of the problems facing the council can be found in the 2005 service inspection report. The council must put to together an Inspection Action Plan to detail what it intends to do in response to the 2004 and 2005 inspection recommendations.'
Keel (centre)… ‘minimal, slight or no progress made’
So it could be that’s precisely what Devon County Council has been doing – but with a tad too much enthusiasm. Who can tell? All council care centres admit in private to 'running around like headless chickens covering all the angles' at present. The inspector’s letter is in fact exactly the kind of target-threat panic that has led to the national sport of tick-boxing. Contemporary UK government is obsessed with such things, but fails spectacularly to realise that the result is a desire to fill quotas at all costs. What doesn't tend to happen is an improvement in real protection on the ground. This appears to be reflected by the situation three years on. In December 2008, ThisisDevon reported: 'Five cases of severe child abuse in Devon and Cornwall are to be re-examined in light of the horrific death of "Baby P" in Haringey, London. The assessments will take place after the national children's inspectorate, Ofsted, condemned the "serious case reviews" into the children's welfare as "inadequate". Such reviews are only conducted following a child's death or when abuse is suspected or known.’ The simple truth is that in most cases, paedophiles are far too cunning to be caught by blanket security: it gives them an even bigger crowd in which to hide. But one can understand why PCC might have felt the need to get a move on with the ‘staying safe’ part of its job….whether they were involved in these latter cases or not. So it’s possible that Bernadette McManus has been caught in the cross-fire of this sudden attack on standards. Here we have what could be the familiar syndrome of a car-crusher being used to crack a nut....which misses completely, instead decapitating innocent bystanders. Certainly, Bernadette remains distraught - and terrified. A number of questions remain unanswered. What were the police doing in force near the McManus household? Who told them Bernadette might represent a risk to her kids – and why? What precisely explains the sudden interest in her land - from both potential buyers and Devon social services? And why the seemingly threatening tone of MP Gary Streeter's letter? Others in Plymouth itself suggest yet a third possible motive for what's 'going on'. They allege that there's a major child-trafficking operation under way in the City. Nby has no evidence to support this: we remain sceptical, but intrigued….and with an ear close to the ground of other cases – one of which has been the subject of a quite extraordinary judicial gagging order. Nor can we support a fourth story in wide circulation: that the interest in Bernadette's ten acres is connected to the new Tavistock rail link, and its associated 750-house building permission. Because if there's one thing the scheme appears to lack at the moment it's....land. But on that question too we await documentary evidence to either dismiss or support the allegation. Next in this series: the importance of being Streeter Related articles on nby: Why blanket security is only a security blanket As abuse continues, Harman & Balls delay Does society really benefit from social workers? |
