Once again the sinister side of the unregulated and unchallenged Child Protection Courts do their dastardly deeds. Convening in secret they have bucked tradition and given custody to a (working) father. Fearing an unfavourable verdict the mother fled with the son she'd reared blamelessly for three years and her family have now been imprisoned.
Had the judge convened and had announced his decision against her, criminal charges of kidnap could have been levied, but the judge hid behind the unconstitutional mire that is"contempt of court". He had not ruled, if he favoured her there would be no charges.
This unaccountable, secretive Quango needs to be stopped. Supposedly in favour of the children, how would they justify taking a child away from the parent that raised him for three years?
I know several guys on here have been on the other end of this levathian's decisions, and I sympathise, but the issue is not their decision but the lack of transparency of their rulings.
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"Ms Minnock has been engaged in a two-year legal battle with Ethan's father over contact with their son. In February, a district judge found she had fabricated allegations against Mr Williams in order to "frustrate contact" between him and Ethan.
A child psychiatrist had recommended that Ethan should live with his father and have supervised contact with his mother - a view shared by a social worker and a guardian.
A social worker reported that Ethan was not "emotionally safe" with his mother. Ethan had been staying with his father four nights a week since February."
Maybe she shouldn't have lied to the social workers and then run off with the kid and maybe she wouldn't find herself in this position?
Probably would've been split custody had she not fabricated allegations and tried to block the father from seeing the child.
all i can say is this woman must have done something major wrong for the courts to have given custody to the father
No?
The actions of a runaway mother at the heart of a custody battle were "utterly irresponsible", a judge has said.
Rebecca Minnock and relatives tried to manipulate the press with a "publicity stunt" when she fled with Ethan, three, Judge Stephen Wildblood QC ruled.
But he said he would do what he could to ensure Ethan had "an effective relationship with both parents".
Ms Minnock, 35, handed herself in on Friday after more than two weeks in hiding with Ethan.
Mother and son disappeared from their home in Highbridge, Somerset, on 27 May - the day a judge ruled Ethan should live with his father.
In a judgement at Bristol Crown Court, Judge Wildblood said that had been an "utterly irresponsible way to behave" when the interests of a child were paramount.
He said she and relatives had tried to cause a "manipulation of the press".
And he said that during the two-year custody battle between Ms Minnock and Ethan's father, Roger Williams, it had "been found that the mother positively invented allegations against the father on two occasions".
Ms Minnock's mother Louise, 52, and Louise's partner Andrew Butt, 56, were jailed on Friday for contempt of court after admitting withholding information about her whereabouts.
Ethan was reunited with his father at the weekend.
https://judiciary.gov.uk/judgments/roger-williams-v-rebecca-minnock-and-ethan-freeman-williams-2-judgments/
ETA as does the whole of the judgement of 8th June. I'll leave everyone to draw their own conclusions.
The tragedy of divorce and other relationship breakdowns is that too often the poor children are used as pawns by the parents which can have untold unanticipated repercussions throughout a child's life.
One has to be careful not to generalise too much with such a difficult topic but I do think SOME parents put their own ambitions and interests above the interests of their children when deciding to divorce or otherwise end a relationship with the other parent.
We don't want any repeat of the recent tragic suicide of the thirteen year old girl after she fell out with her 'stepfather' over some trivial incident. The child MUST be put first in these cases .. the 'law' and the judges have an unenviable and all too often nigh on impossible job sometimes to ensure that this is the end result.
I feel sorry for the child and the father.
I have been married now to the same wonderful woman for 31 years. We have had massive challenges in our life as some will know on here. We could have given up many many times but somehow we have found a way through.
My sister is recently divorced and fortunately custody of the children is not an issue as they are both grown up. What I do know is that the shenanigans that went on during their fathers various affairs which my sister had to bear had really impact on the kids when they were younger.
This case for me is desperately sad and no one is a winner.
I hope they all get the help they require