by Daniel Lombard
Edinburgh Council has resolved its dispute with The Daily Mail over its coverage of a row over an adoption case.
The council issued a formal complaint to the national press watchdog, the Press Complaints Commission, on the grounds that a series of reports published in January and February were inaccurate and misleading.
In particular, the authority argued that the mother's version of events - specifically in regard to a telephone conversation between her and a social worker - had been presented as fact.
The council had previously described the coverage as "sensationalised" and having the potential to destabilise children's services by deterring potential foster carers from coming forward.
Community Care would tend to agree that the newspaper's portrayal of children's social work was hostile and one-sided. So much so that we handed The Daily Mail the first ever 'Worst Coverage' award in our inaugural Media Awards for reporting of the profession at Community Care Live in May this year.
The judges took a dim view of the Mail's depressingly familiar ploy of targeting individual social workers.
The good people at Associated Newspapers refused to apologise, however, and merely published the following letter from Marilyne Maclaren, convener of education, children and families at Edinburgh Council, on page 56 of its 15 July edition.
"I would like to respond to your reporting of the adoption of two children in Edinburgh by a same-sex couple. At the heart of this matter are two vulnerable children who need stability and loving care, which we have been trying to secure for them. They are at a crucial stage in their lives.
Social workers only intervene in a family's care of children where their welfare and safety are at stake. I have confidence in the Council's staff and am proud of the work they do in circumstances that few of us would ever like to experience. The well-known problems in recruiting social workers should make it clear what a challenging role this is. Across the country, there are thousands of children who need fostering or adoption, and not nearly enough people able and willing to provide it.
The care of children has never been more regulated. The inspection of councils by independent bodies, along with due legal processes, provide the checks and balances that are needed. I welcome these measures, but find that often the full story is not considered and that individual social workers and potential carers are attacked without due cause.
Everyone involved in the care of children feels deeply about those tragic cases which are rightly reported. But there are many more that the public never see, where children's lives have been improved or saved through the efforts of social workers. When the media have moved on to 'new' stories, they will still be trying to provide safety and security for hundreds of children who would otherwise face an incredibly difficult life, or even no life at all."
Read one article from the Mail's coverage in January here, featuring a lengthy interview with the mother of the two children at the centre of the case. She describes the heartbreaking experience of having her sons removed by social services. Further down in the article, we learn she is a recovering heroin addict.
Well, Let's give them time to think about apologizing...
social services are liars they tell me lies on a daily basis they drive all families apart when they waltz in and walk away with the children leaveing families ruined and devastated and in turmoil all blameing each other then they tell the children lies to keep them in their placements. despicable people. my two daughters wer taken and i never harmed them i dont take drugs never have they twisted and contorted everything.