The key question comes towards the end of this fine investigation into why we are taking more children into care than since records began in the 1990s, exercising draconian powers, including forced adoption, to break up more families than any other western country. “Is the system so corrupted by 30 years of distrust that it is beyond repair?” asks journalist Polly Curtis.
The answer has to be yes, if her meticulous investigation, conducted over many months, is any guide. The reasons why are not so complex. If you are a poor white, Asian, black and/or disabled person, your family is much more likely to be split apart by a system that can appear ferociously unfair to a growing group of parents and carers who see social workers and other professionals as nothing more than “baby snatchers”. Hence the mistrust.
