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Christina England
Vactruth.com
04/10/2010
(Part: 1 | Part: 2 | Part: 3 | Part: 4 | Part: 5 | Part: 6)
Panoramic Views
I recently came across a group of Professionals who call themselves PACA which is Professionals Against Child Abuse. PACA is a group of professionals who work in child protection who are there for one another. This group came together after several high profile cases where paediatricians and professionals had cases against them at the GMC. The homepage of their website says:
“Welcome to PACA
PACA (Professionals Against Child Abuse) is an association of professionals who care for children that came together in 2007 in response to several high-profile cases against paediatricians at the GMC”.
Whilst I can fully appreciate their need to come together and support each other, they should have children’s needs and welfare at heart instead of their own. I feel sad that they do not recognize that occasionally they do get it wrong and that they do not fully appreciate the impact of the stigma that goes with a false accusation. Professionals together make a powerful force to reckon with.
So what happens to the parents who have been falsely accused when the police have gone and social services have left?
Some of the lucky ones do get help. They meet professionals like Lisa Blakemore-Brown Child Psychologist, Expert Witness and Expert in Autism, Charles Pragnell, an independent social care management consultant, a Child/Family Advocate, and an Expert Defence Witness – Child Protection , Dr Helen Hayward-Brown, doctorate in the social sciences (interdisciplinary: sociology, anthropology, psychology) Earl Howe, House of Lords, Countess Mar, House of Lords, Michael Nott, Former Radio and Television Journalist, Clifford Miller UK Lawyer, Dr Michael Innis Pathologist and a Haematologist , Dr Harold Buttram MD, FAACP and various like-minded professionals throughout the world who do listen and care. These are all professionals who are prepared to go that extra mile. Unfortunately many child protection professionals are not and largely remain detached from the real situation.
Parents should not be treated like criminals. The sentence “innocent until proven guilty” should be respected. If the label MSBP has to be used then a clear precise criteria of what it is should be agreed. At present the umbrella is far too wide. There has to be clear set boundaries as to what does and does not amount to MSBP. For example can you really put “pictures on tee shirts” and parents who may be over anxious into the same category as someone who has been proven to put injections of faeces into the bloodstream of a child? If a parent appears over anxious or a little mis-guided then professionals should speak to them and reassure them, they may be afraid or in need of help and support. If a parent does need help need help then they should be referred to the relevant agencies . Is an accusation of child abuse really productive or counter-productive?
According to the evidence shown by Lisa Blakemore-Brown which has since been seen and backed by others, more and more families with Autistic children are being accused. Could this be because professionals are not understanding ASD fully, or because of the vast numbers now coming through the system? Could a MSBP label be a cover for vaccine injuries, put in place to quieten parents who ask too many questions or are a little too insistent that a vaccine injury is to blame? Lisa Blakemore- Brown and many like her certainly think so. If my case is used as an example then children are not being correctly diagnosed and parents are being accused of making up conditions and being told that their children are normal when it is blatantly obvious that they are not.
I would like to see professionals from all sides including the Government, sit down and discuss their views and opinions. They all have valid opinions and views and if they all worked together then a sensible realistic set of Guidelines could be drawn up. After all the key issue is the protection of the children. I realise this will never happen and I guess the MSBP war will rage on for eternity.
Professionals warned the Government this was happening many years ago so why is it still happening and why were these professionals suppressed?
Lisa Blakemore-Brown wrote to Jack Straw in 1996
It states in Guardian 2004 Ministers are told child harm theory was flawed : that
“Lisa Blakemore-Brown, a child psychologist and expert on autism and Asperger’s Syndrome, who, as chairwoman of an organisation called Promoting Parenting Skills acted as an adviser to the Home Office, wrote to then shadow secretary Jack Straw in 1996 warning that MSBP had resulted in a mother being wrongly separated from her children.”
She had mentioned her concerns several times, in the Psychologist letter in 1997 and in an article in the “The Therapist” in 1998. This was a year after Sir Roy Meadow had himself written an article for The Therapist. On reading Lisa Blakemore-Browns letter in the “Psychologist” the Editor of the The Therapist contacted Lisa Blakemore-Brown to ask if she would write an article showing the opposite view to start debate.
Blakemore-Brown first mentioned the possible vaccine link as early as 1996 but instead of her concerns being taken seriously, attempts to destroy her career and discredit her reputation have continued ever since. One has to wonder why this is.
MSBP was once thought to be a rare syndrome but today more and more cases are coming to light. Are more parents abusing their children if so why? I heard of one professional bragging in an interview that he had spotted 70 cases locally and that he could spot an abusive parent a mile off. That is scary especially if true. Is his area typical or was it because he was taking the guidelines so literally that he was spotting more cases than he should have been?
So is there help out there for parents like me? Well there is a little. Attitudes are slowly changing through cases being publicised and highlighted showing injustice, Governments are being forced to sit up and listen. There are campaign groups operating and a few Internet forums. I have listed a few below to help.
I realize in writing these articles I may come under further attack. It may well be seen as more of my “attention seeking behaviour”. Of course this I feel will justify my accusers, by making them feel they were right all along. My reason for writing this is not to get attention but to educate professionals, especially those just qualifying and the general public to understand the term MSBP and just what damage can be done when attaching this label falsely to a parent or care giver. I particularly wanted to highlight how parents of many vaccine injured children are now being falsely accused. I also want to help other parents who have been falsely accused to feel that they are not alone.
One day maybe professionals will stop and think. They may decide to do further tests and not be so keen to accuse parents and carers of abuse.
Just a small note to end this series of articles with, my Social Services did inform my MP after many meetings with them trying to get my data cleared that “I had been cured of MSBP during the process”. However cured or not my data is yet to be cleared.
I would like to say a special thank you to all the professionals who helped me personally, especially Lisa Blakemore-Brown who is an amazing and remarkable lady. I would urge her to carry on with her wonderful work despite the terrible damage that has been done to her because of her beliefs and outspokenness. To the many who will criticize me, I would like to say I am not a bad person just a mother who tries her best for two children she loves very much. I may have made mistakes and I do get things wrong, I am human and a parent and we all do. There is no manual for parents to follow, we have no guidelines it’s the professionals who have those. They are the ones protected by unions not us parents, our job is to protect our children but who protects us when things go wrong?
(Part: 1 | Part: 2 | Part: 3 | Part: 4 | Part: 5 | Part: 6)
RELATED LINKS
Fassit – a support and information forum
Unity Injustice -a support and information forum
Fathers 4 Justice – father’s campaign group
European Court of Human Rights