Judge approves seizing a baby born abroad, against EU law
The Telegraph -
In a disturbing extension of social workers’ powers, a child born in Spain has been deported to the UK.
There has been a very disturbing development in the case of a Welsh couple who fled to Spain in March to prevent social workers seizing their baby, which was born a month later. For months, the child lived happily with her mother, who set about building a new life, taking out a long lease on a flat and starting a business.
She took heart from the story of Marie Black, who fled to France with her partner last year to avoid their expected child being snatched. Although Norfolk social workers were authorised by one judge to bring the child back to Britain, another judge then ruled that, under an EU law known as “Brussels II”, this was illegal, because the child was never “habitually resident” anywhere but France. He ordered that the baby be returned to its parents.
For the mother in Spain there was to be no such happy ending. In September, the social workers enlisted the aid of the Spanish police in deporting her baby to Britain – as was retrospectively approved by a British judge, despite her QC arguing that this was illegal under Brussels II. The judge rejected the argument, and refused the mother leave to appeal. The QC drafted a case for leave to appeal, arguing that bringing the child to Britain was illegal under both EU law and Spanish law, since the child should not have been removed from Spanish jurisdiction without permission from a Spanish judge.
Read More: telegraph.co.uk
2012-11-13 18:40:41
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