Newborn removed by social workers from ‘fat’ family

The father of the Dundee family - who is not allowed to be identified - with a toy belonging to one of his children

www.timesonline.co.uk

Social workers who removed two children from an overweight family acted yesterday to ensure that all their remaining children, including a newborn baby, are taken into care.

One other child was moved out of the family home with two more due to go by the end of the week. Earlier, a baby delivered by Caesarean section was taken away from the couple just 24 hours after her birth on Monday. The move followed a children’s panel ruling that social workers could take the three children, two girls aged 9 and 13, and boy aged 12, into care immediately. The children did not attend the hearing or make any representations.

Speaking to The Times yesterday the father of the baby said that the whole family was “heartbroken”. He said: “I can’t sleep, I can’t eat. I can’t tell you how powerless I feel. The other children are devastated too. My wife was told she could stay with our baby for another 24 hours but then she would have to go home alone. She got up out of her bed and left the hospital there and then. I had to wait behind to say my goodbyes to the baby.”

However, a spokesman for Dundee Council social services department, which has been working with the family for more than ten years, said that obesity was not the only reason for the removal of the children. “We will not comment in detail on any family with whom we are involved, but we have made it clear on numerous occasions that children would not be removed from a family environment just because of a weight issue.” Read full article…

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