The boy and his 12-year-old sister have since been moved but former Children's Court magistrate Barbara Holborow has called for a full inquiry into the decision to put them there. "Oh my God, what are we doing?" Ms Holborow, who has fostered eight children, said. Families Minister Pru Goward has demanded a full explanation from child welfare service Barnardos, which had recruited the couple.
"I am seeking advice from Barnardos to confirm that care arrangements were appropriate and the wellbeing of the children was paramount," Ms Goward said. The children's story, described as one of the saddest in the state, has been revealed in a Supreme Court judgment posted last month in Children's Law news compiled by the NSW Children's Court. Their mother had tried but failed in the Supreme Court to win back custody of her son, given the pseudonym Campbell by the court. His current foster parents want to adopt him.
Campbell was taken into care in November 2006 at the age of 18 months along with his four stepbrothers and two stepsisters after complaints of physical and mental abuse at the hands of the parents. Campbell and his sister Abby, then 12, were placed with the lesbian couple in early 2009. The placement did not work out for Abby and after she was moved, Campbell was dressed in girl's clothes and his photograph placed on the couple's Facebook page.
6 comments:
I hope people realize that this is a case of bad parenting and likely has nothing to do with lesbianism.
Exactly. This couple wanted a girl and decided to make one. Sexual preference won't make anyone a good or bad parent. Choices do. This couple obviously made wrong, damaging choices.
This only proves that straight couple aren't the only ones who can be bad parents. This couple also now gave the anti-gay lobby ammunition to be used against gay or lesbian couples that are (or would be) good parents.
They've completely failed to detail any abuse other than parents playing dress-up with their young child and taking pictures of it. Imagine if a male gay couple had a foster daughter, dressed her up like a cowboy, and posted pictures of it? Would that be looked askance at? I'm not saying they didn't abuse the child... I'm just saying that this information isn't enough to publicly condemn them.
At first I thought, oh no, they should have known better, now it's going to cause problems for every gay or lesbian foster family.
Then I thought ...where did the word "humiliating" come from? Did the child complain? Or was that just assumed by the journalist?
I agree with the previous two ladies. Based on this blog post and the linked article alone I have absolutely no way of knowing whether the boy was dressed in girly clothes against his will or if it was fun and games for him, whether there was actual humiliation or just assumptions made by outsiders.
Sadly, if he didn't think that way before, I'm pretty sure the six-year-old boy knows now it's humiliating for boys to wear skirts.
I wonder what he would think of Pacific Islanders and Scotsmen?
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