By Hilary White
EDINBURGH, May 5, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Local council authorities in Scotland have admitted that mistakes had been made in the case of the children who were adopted out to two homosexual men instead of being allowed to live with their own grandparents. The children’s grandfather was later threatened by council social workers with never seeing the children again if he and his wife continued to object to the adoption.
The Edinburgh Evening News reported yesterday that chief social work officer Michelle Miller said that while she could not comment on the content of the conversation, it would have been better if staff had held a face-to-face meeting.
“I apologise for any distress that not doing so may have caused,” she said.
The 46-year-old grandmother was quoted saying, “We just want out grandchildren back. The council has not behaved at all well.”
After two years of court battles, the court ruled that the children’s grandparents, at 46 and 59, were too old to adequately raise their five year old grandson and four year old granddaughter. The grandparents were forced to abandon the legal fight due to rising costs.
They later received telephone calls from council employees who told them if they did not cease to oppose their grandchildren’s adoption by a pair of homosexual men, they would never be allowed to see them again. The Daily Mail reported that the grandfather was told by social workers, “You can either accept it, and there’s a chance you’ll see the children twice a year, or you can take that stance and never see them again.”
Social workers said that they would “certainly look” into allowing the grandparents to see their grandchildren “when you are able to come back with an open mind on the issues.”
“If you couldn’t support the children [in the homosexual adoption], if you were having contact and couldn’t support the children, and were showing negative feelings, it wouldn’t be in their best interests for contact to take place.”
The grandparents had cared for the children, whose mother is a heroin addict, but the children were removed in January this year and placed in foster care that was supposed to have been temporary. The grandparents launched formal complaints to the council that was legally obliged to consider the family’s views before deciding who should bring up the children.
To express concerns:
Edinburgh City Council
Children and Families, Edinburgh Child Protection Committee
Address: Waverley Court,
Level 1/5, 4 East Market Street,
Edinburgh EH8 8BG
Tel: 0131 529 2116
E-mail: astrid.telfer
Read related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
Homosexual Men Given Custody of Children Rather than Own Grandparents
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/jan/09012808.html