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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1308832/How-couple-went-run-year-old-allowed-foster-child.html

How could couple who went on run with four-year-old be allowed to foster any child?

By Claire Ellicott
Last updated at 10:30 AM on 4th September 2010

A foster mother who went on the run with a four-year-old boy she hoped to adopt was being questioned by police yesterday.

Officers arrested Marcia Langton, 46, after finding her and the child at the end of a two-day hunt.

They are still looking for her 40-year-old husband Darren, who is awaiting trial for an alleged attack on a neighbour.

Last night questions were being asked as to why the boy, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, had been placed with an apparently unsuitable couple.

The Langtons were even being considered for suitability to adopt children.

Social workers had been concerned about the boy's safety and had started court proceedings to return him to their care.

The Langtons vanished with the child hours before they were due to hand him over to the authorities. He had been with them for 16 months.

Mr Langton, a self- employed planning consultant, has not been seen since Sunday, but is believed to be in the Skegness area of Lincolnshire.

Police found his wife and the four-year-old in Doncaster at about 7pm on Thursday.

She was arrested and taken back to Skegness police station to be interviewed by officers.

The boy had been living with the couple at their semi-detached home in Doncaster where neighbours were led to believe they had already adopted the youngster.

The family are thought to have moved on from there to Skegness two months ago.

The couple had been due to hand the boy back to social services officials at Newham Borough Council in east London on Tuesday and police were alerted when they failed to turn up.

A council spokesman said serious concerns had prompted it to take court action to return the child to their care.

The council insists that, according to its own records, the couple had no criminal record when the boy was handed over to their care.

A spokesman said: 'The child was placed with the couple 16 months ago. They were being considered as suitable adopters.

'In recent weeks, we were made aware of serious concerns which led us to take court action to return him to our care.'

It is unclear why the boy was placed with a family so far from his London home but a source close to the case said sometimes children were moved 'for very good reason'.

Mr Langton is due before Doncaster Magistrates on September 13 for a committal hearing relating to an alleged assault on Wayne Taylor, 35.

Lib Dem MP John Hemming, who has campaigned for more openness from social services and the family courts when children are taken into care, said he would write to Tim Loughton, the minister for children, to call for an investigation.

Today a spokesman for Newham said the council was delighted the boy had been found.

Detective Inspector Andy Wardell, from Lincolnshire Police, said: 'Following extensive and rapid inquiries carried out in partnership with our colleagues in South Yorkshire Police, a 46-year- old woman is now in custody at Skegness police station.

'We would like to thank the media for their support in this case which has greatly assisted in an excellent result.

'We are delighted to confirm that the child is safe and well and has been returned to the care of Newham Children's Services in London.'

A Very Real Sin

"You must not covet your neighbor's house. You must not covet your neighbor's wife, male or female servant, ox or donkey, or anything else that belongs to your neighbor." ?Exodus 20:17

While the first nine of the Ten Commandments deal with outward actions, the last commandment deals with an action of the heart: coveting. In fact, it is something we may not even realize that we are doing. Yet God clearly specifies it as one of the top ten things He wants us to know.

What does it mean to covet? It doesn't mean that it is wrong to see something you like and wish you had it. That is not necessarily coveting. God said, "You must not covet your neighbor's house. You must not covet your neighbor's wife, male or female servant, ox or donkey, or anything else that belongs to your neighbor" (Exodus 20:17, emphasis mine). Notice the context is something that belongs to someone else.

The New Testament translates the Hebrew word for "covet" as the word "lust." So how does coveting work? The eyes look at an object. The mind admires it. The will goes over to it. And the body moves toward possessing it.

Let's say that your friend has just bought a new car. You say, "Wow, that is a cool car!" Then you go out the next day and buy the same car in the same color. That is not coveting; that is copying. But let's say that you take your friend's new car for a spin around the block and never return. That is coveting that has given way to stealing. Coveting is wanting something that belongs to someone else and determining that you will get it, no matter what.

Coveting can infiltrate so many areas of our lives?and it can destroy them. Marriages are destroyed. Careers are destroyed. Families are destroyed. It happens all the time. Coveting is a very real sin?and we will pay a very real price for it.

Something God Hates

These six things the Lord hates, Yes, seven are an abomination to Him: A proud look, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that are swift in running to evil, a false witness who speaks lies, and one who sows discord among brethren. ?Proverbs 6:16-19

God hates lying. In fact, God thinks so much of truth that He uses the very word to describe His character. Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me" (John 14:6). And we are told in Scripture that it is impossible for God to lie (see Hebrews 6:18). Lying is not in God's nature; He cares a lot about truth.

When we lie, we are behaving more like a child of the devil than a child of God, because the Bible describes Satan as "the father of lies" (John 8:44). And we all may lie a little more than we think. A study was done in which people were asked why they lie. Ninety-eight percent of respondents said they lied to keep from offending someone else. I can understand that to a certain degree, because telling the truth isn't always easy?especially when you are asked a difficult question like, "How did you like dinner?" or "Do you like my new outfit?" Even so, lying is still a sin.

There are subtle ways in which we tell lies, such as through flattery and exaggeration. We also lie when we say things like, "Oh, I forgot" (when we didn't), or "It's good to see you" (when it isn't), or "I was just getting ready to call you" (when we weren't). We also lie through gossiping and backbiting. Proverbs 20:19 NLT says, "A gossip goes around telling secrets, so don't hang around with chatterers." We love to dispense gossip, and unfortunately, we love to hear it far too often.

Have you ever had someone gossip about you? Lie about you? Lie to you? Then you know how destructive it is. God hates lying?and we should too.

Jehovah-shalom

So Gideon built an altar there to the LORD, and called it The-LORD-Is-Peace. Judges 6:24 (NKJV)

There's a good chance that most of us have either heard of or are familiar with the Hebrew word shalom. In some circles, the word shalom is even used as a common cordial greeting. But what is the meaning behind this word? And more importantly, how does this meaning factor into this next name of God, Jehovah-shalom, or "The-Lord-Is-Peace"?

Some dictionaries simply define shalom as meaning "peace." That's a good start, but it certainly doesn't cover all of it. Two countries can technically be at peace because they're not fighting a war against each other, all the while harboring disagreements and grievances. They're at peace, but they're not at shalom with each other.

In a nutshell, shalom describes a state of complete fulfillment, wholeness, and wellness. That's shalom. It's the easy exhale of the soul, knowing everything is all right. So what happens when shalom is combined with Jehovah to form the name, Jehovah-shalom?

For Gideon, who coined this name in the Book of Judges, it represented the understanding that the ability to rest easy, relax, and exhale go hand in hand with God's presence. Apart from Him, anxiety, stress, fear, trepidation, and insecurity are the norm. But with the Lord, there is shalom.

Sounds great in theory, doesn't it? But what happens when an unexpected expense rears its ugly head in your world? What happens when the doctor's office calls to say you need to come in for some additional tests? What happens when your spouse says he or she doesn't love you anymore?

It's then and there that we need to call upon the name of Jehovah-shalom, because we'll never be able to rest, relax, or exhale apart from Him. God doesn't want us to live on pins and needles in this life. He wants us to walk in confidence, to breath easy, and to partake in the peace that can only come from the heart of Jehovah-shalom.

Think about it?

What does this passage reveal to me about God?
What does this passage reveal to me about myself?
Based on this, what changes do I need to make?
What is my prayer for today?

Unless They Are Agreed

Can two walk together, unless they are agreed? (Amos 3:3).

In order to walk with God, one must agree with Him.  In order to experience the fulfillment of His promises in our lives, we must agree with what those promises say?whether we understand how they could ever come to pass or not.

When the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and told her she would give birth to a son, she asked, "How can this be, since I do not know a man?" (Luke 1:34).

A pretty fair question, don't you think?  It seemed impossible to Mary.  She could not get her mind around how Gabriel's announcement could ever come to pass.

I love the angel's response to her question, "The Holy Spirit?" (Luke 1:35). That is the answer to your impossibilities as well.  When you can't understand how a promise from God could ever be fulfilled, the answer is "The Holy Spirit!"

At this point Mary could have said, "No way!  This makes no sense to me.  I don't accept it!"  But she didn't.  She said, "Behold the maidservant of the Lord!  Let it be to me according to your word" (Luke 1:38).

Mary agreed with God's promise and accepted it.  Then the miracle happened.

Whatever you are facing today, make the decision to agree with God and His promises.  The Holy Spirit can bring His Word to pass!

Paraprosdokian sentences

These are being sent partly to introduce a word that is rather rare. Paraprosdokian sentences are figures of speech that uses an unexpected ending to a seriese or phrase.

I asked God for a bike, but I know God doesn't work that way. So I stole a bike and asked for forgiveness.

Do not argue with an idiot. He will drag you down to his level and beat you with experience.

Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.

The last thing I want to do is hurt you. But it's still on the list.

Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.

If I agreed with you we'd both be wrong.

We never really grow up, we only learn how to act in public.

War does not determine who is right - only who is left.

Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit; Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.

The early bird might get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.

Evening news is where they begin with 'Good evening', and then proceed to tell you why it isn't.

To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism. To steal from many is research.

A bus station is where a bus stops. A train station is where a train stops.  On my desk, I have a work station.

How is it one careless match can start a forest fire, but it takes a whole box to start a campfire?

Dolphins are so smart that within a few weeks of captivity, they can train people to stand on the very edge of the pool and throw them fish.

I thought I wanted a career, turns out I just wanted pay checks.

A bank is a place that will lend you money, if you can prove that you don't need it.

Whenever I fill out an application, in the part that says "If an emergency, notify:" I put "DOCTOR".

I didn't say it was your fault, I said I was blaming you.

I saw a woman wearing a sweat shirt with "Guess" on it...so I said "Implants?"

Why does someone believe you when you say there are four billion stars, but check when you say the paint is wet?

Women will never be equal to men until they can walk down the street with a bald head and a beer gut, and still think they are sexy.

Why do Americans choose from just two people to run for president and 50 for Miss America?

Behind every successful man is his woman. Behind the fall of a successful man is usually another woman.

A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.

You do not need a parachute to skydive. You only need a parachute to skydive twice.

The voices in my head may not be real, but they have some good ideas!

Always borrow money from a pessimist. He won't expect it back.

A diplomat is someone who can tell you to go to hell in such a way that you will look forward to the trip.

Hospitality: making your guests feel like they're at home, even if you wish they were.

Money can't buy happiness, but it sure makes misery easier to live with.

I discovered I scream the same way whether I'm about to be devoured by a great white shark or if a piece of seaweed touches my foot.

Some cause happiness wherever they go. Others whenever they go.

There's a fine line between cuddling and holding someone down so they can't get away.

I used to be indecisive. Now I'm not sure.

I always take life with a grain of salt, plus a slice of lemon, and a shot of tequila.

When tempted to fight fire with fire, remember that the Fire Department usually uses water.

You're never too old to learn something stupid.

To be sure of hitting the target, shoot first and call whatever you hit the target.

Nostalgia isn't what it used to be.

Some people hear voices. Some see invisible people. Others have no imagination whatsoever.

A bus is a vehicle that runs twice as fast when you are after it as when you are in it.

Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine.

JUST 3 WORDS

There are female jokes and there are unisex jokes. Here is a joke I consider a true female joke.  I offer it to you in the hopes that women will love it and men will pass it along to a woman who will love it!

A woman was sitting at a bar enjoying an after work cocktail with her girlfriends when Steven, a tall, exceptionally handsome, extremely sexy, middle-aged man entered. He was so striking that the woman could not take her eyes off him.  This seasoned yet playful heartthrob noticed her overly attentive stare and walked directly toward her. (As any man would.) Before she could offer her apologies for staring so rudely, he leaned over and whispered to her, "I'll do anything, absolutely anything, that you want me to do, no matter how kinky, for $20.00... on one condition..."

Flabbergasted but intrigued, the woman asked what the condition was. The man replied, "You have to tell me what you want me to do in just three words."

The woman considered his proposition for a moment, and then slowly removed a $20 bill from her purse, which she pressed into the man's hand along with her address. She looked deeply and passionately into his eyes, barely concealing her anticipation and excitement, and slowly and meaningfully said.... "Clean my house."

(YOU GO, GIRL!)

Hi much2say,

Sorry for the delay in replying - atm I can only catch a moment here and there!

I know what you mean about how difficult it is to express negativity towards adoption. I've found it difficult, especially because, in my case, this is completely separate from my (adoptive) parents who have been lovely people. I am perfectly happy in my (adoptive) family. You don't have to have had bad adoptive parents in order to have negative feelings or feel somewhat ambivalent about the effect of adoption on your life. I also hate the idea that you have to 'move on'. Newsflash: I am adopted every day of my life. It's not something that happened to me a while ago - it's still happening. I still go home to people who didn't know me until just before I hit puberty. Adoption is something I'm still living, and its effects manifest themselves in different ways as I get older. It's not, in fact, something that happened in the past that I can get over.

I can't believe you had to wait so long to find information about your family! When you think about it, it's unbelievable that basic information that the majority of the population takes for granted is denied to some. And I'm sorry that everything you'd been told were lies. I have problems with what I know too, although I'm still witholding judgement on it all. But I'm glad you're back in the cyber world though (unless this means things are currently bad for you). But I don't know how things can change - I mean, I'm not really aware of anywhere that British people wanting to adopt really actually talk to people who were adopted. I'm not sure where people wanting to adopt in the UK get their information; not from British adoptees I don't think.

I find what you say about 'ownership' interesting. Adopted as an older child, sometimes I feel as though the state somehow "owned" my relationships, and could decide whether I could see my mother, my sibling, or my foster parents that I loved. They owned my relationships to the extent that they could decide whether or not they existed legally (adoption), and whether or not they existed in practice (contact). If I'd been allowed to keep my previous relationships, and somehow merge my previous identity with my new one, it'd have been much easier for me, tbh.

I need to go now, but it's good to meet some other people!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/christopherbooker/7958099/She-defied-the-law-to-find-her-mother.html#dsq-content

She defied the law to find her mother

Winona Varney was reunited with her mother through Facebook, writes Christopher Booker.

By Christopher Booker
Published: 7:25PM BST 21 Aug 2010

For once, after all the shocking stories I have reported on the secretive system that allows social workers to seize children from loving parents for no good reason, to send them for adoption, I can at last report a story where a family torn apart for nine years has been reunited.

When Winona Varney, now a pretty 16-year-old, recently fell into the arms of her mother Tracey at Truro railway station, they had not seen each other since she was seven. During that time, she and her 12-year-old sister Daniella have been living unhappily with an adoptive family, who repeatedly told them that their mother was a bad woman who did not love or want them. But when, in June, Winona managed to track her mother down, via Facebook, a short time later the two girls and their mother were again living under the same roof.

This harrowing story began back in 1997, when social workers from Cornwall county council received a wholly erroneous tip-off that there might be drugs in the house where Tracey lived with her partner. The day after the birth of their first child, a boy, they were made to sign an agreement that they would ?work with social services?. Tracey then had two daughters, Winona and Daniella; but their father, who had been in care himself, had a strong aversion to social workers and eventually threatened one with violence.

On the social workers? insistence, in order to keep her children, Tracey left her partner. She and they were sent to a mother and child unit in Staffordshire, where she often had to protect them from abuse by other inmates. Eventually, though there was no evidence that Tracey had harmed them in any way, the girls were sent for adoption, on the grounds that they were ?at risk of emotional abuse?. They were taken in by a couple in a nearby Cornish village, and Winona was given a new name. (Their brother, however, was returned to his mother, after a year in foster care.)

Year after year, unaware of her daughters? whereabouts, Tracey sent loving birthday and Christmas cards to them. But this could only be done through social services ? who never passed them on. According to Winona, she and her sister were constantly told both by social workers and their adoptive parents that their mother was ?a horrible person? who didn?t love them.

Tracey eventually found a new partner with whom she had two more daughters. In June this year, Winona managed to track down her mother through Facebook, and they arranged to meet at Truro station. They couldn?t believe their happiness at being reunited and more secret meetings followed.

When Daniella was told what was going on, she was initially wary, because of the lies she had been told about her mother. But twice the girls escaped at night through windows for further meetings, until eventually Winona rang the adoptive parents to say they were both going back to live with their mother.

Winona is so angry about what has been done to them that she has opened a page on Facebook entitled ?Anti-Social Services Forced Adoption ? We Can Help!?, to join up with other children in the same plight. She pays tribute to the advice she was given by Ian Josephs, the businessman living in the South of France who, through his Forced Adoption website, has helped hundreds of families who have fallen into the clutches of this corrupt and secretive system.

Not dissimilar was the case of Tammy Coulter, taken away from her mother by Derbyshire social workers when she was only seven months old, after an accident left her with a bruised cheek. After time in foster care, she was put out for adoption by a judge who said that, thanks to delays by the social workers, she and her mother would by now be strangers. Only after 17 years did she find her mother again through the website Genes Reunited, and was able to return happily to her birth family.

In 2006, Tammy told a London audience, which included judges, lawyers and Harriet Harman MP: ?Finding out you?ve been adopted is one of the worst feelings in the world, because you feel that all of your identity, everything you?ve known about yourself, is a lie.? She said she was speaking out ?on behalf of children and parents who have also been through the secrecy of family courts and the injustices that have taken place, and the devastation of one decision that determines the future of a child?.

After nine years of misery, Winona Varney would agree. She says that after going to college, she wants to get involved in child care ? ?but certainly not as a social worker, because I have seen what they can do?.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1306887/White-couple-told-adopt-black-Asian-child.html

Too white to adopt: Politically-correct town hall officials tell banker and his wife they can't give a home to a black or Asian child

By Vanessa Allen and Dennis Rice
Last updated at 4:08 AM on 28th August 2010

Cradling her daughter on her knee, Francesca Polini is every inch the loving, caring mother.

She and her banker husband have good incomes, a spacious home and a close network of family and friends.

But their hopes of parenthood were ini?tially dashed when town hall bureaucrats said they were ?too white? to adopt a child.

Their rejection meant a child in care was denied the chance of a happy, com?fortable home and a stable future.

And it casts a spotlight on a politically correct adoption system which routinely blocks white couples from giving a home to a child in need.

Mrs Polini, 40, and her husband Rick offered to adopt a black or Asian child, who wait longer for adoption because of a national shortage of ethnic minority couples looking to adopt.

But the couple claim officials in Ealing, West London, told them there was a cap on white parents adopting black or Asian children.

Officially, the council denies such a cap exists, but the case echoes those of other white, middle-class couples who have been barred from adopting for the same reason. Mrs Polini said: ?The woman didn?t even meet us, she just told us on the phone, ?I?m afraid you are too white for us to permit you to adopt one of our children?.

?There was no assessment, it was based purely on our skin colour, and that shouldn?t be what quali?fies you to adopt. None of this is about the child?s best interests and frankly it?s immoral.?

Faced with their local authori?ty?s refusal to consider them as adoptive parents, the couple had to search abroad for a child to adopt.

Ironically, the same council which had refused their applica?tion to adopt a British child was happy to charge more than ?4,000 to vet them for interna?tional adoption.

After overcoming a series of bureaucratic hurdles, they eventu?ally won permission to adopt a girl in Mexico. Gaia, now two, was granted British citizenship last year, and her parents hope to adopt a second child from Mexico.

Currently there are more than 80,000 children and teenagers in care in Britain, and white children are more likely to be adopted than those from ethnic minorities.

Charities including Barnardo?s have called for a radical review of the adoption system, and Mrs Polini is campaigning for an end to ?caps? on inter-racial adoption.

The former director of communi?cations at Greenpeace has set up an organisation, Adoption with Humanity, and has written a book about her experiences.

The Department for Children, Schools and Families has apolo?gised to the family for ?unaccepta?ble and inappropriate? delays in the handling of their case and has said councils should not bar white cou?ples from adopting black or Asian children.

In a letter to the couple, Ed Balls, then Children?s Secretary, said: ?We are clear that it is unacceptable for a child to be denied the opportu?nity to grow up in a loving, perma?nent family solely on the grounds that the child and the prospective adopters do not share the same racial or cultural background.

?These are issues that local authorities should take into account, but they should not act as a ?bar? in the way that seems to have happened in your case.? An Ealing Council spokesman denied it discriminated against white cou?ples, saying: ?We do not have a pol?icy of same-ethnicity adoption.

?While an ethnic and cultural match is considered important, it is the overall needs of the child that are given priority, and all potential adopters are considered.

?Since 2006 we have permanently placed 17 children with families of different ethnic backgrounds, which is 19 per cent of the children placed.?