MP vows to raise mother's plight

John Hemming has vowed to raise in Parliament the plight of a UK-based Italian mother whose baby was removed by caesarian section.
2 December 2013

An MP has contacted the Italian embassy over the case of a pregnant woman whose baby was reportedly forcibly removed by caesarean section in Britain by order of social workers.

Essex social services obtained a High Court order against the woman, who is from Italy, that allowed her to be forcibly sedated and her child to be taken from her womb, according to The Sunday Telegraph.

The council said it was acting in the best interests of the woman, who was in Britain for work reasons, because she had suffered a mental breakdown, the newspaper reported.

The baby girl, now 15 months old, is still in the care of social services, who are refusing to give her back to the mother, even though she claims to have made a full recovery, it added.

Lawyers for the woman say the council should have consulted the woman's family beforehand and also involved Italian social services.

Liberal Democrat MP John Hemming has taken up her case and said today that members of his team "have been contacting the Italian embassy to find out what their position is on this issue".

He added: "In previous cases the Polish, Czech and Slovak embassies have all been very supportive of their citizens facing unjust proceedings in the family division in England and Wales.

"However, I do not know what the view of the Italian embassy or the Italian authorities more generally will be."

Mr Hemming said he intended to raise the issue in Parliament and had contacted the mother this morning.

He said: "I have already had a short conversation with her on the telephone and we have agreed to speak further later today."

Yesterday Mr Hemming commented: "I can't work out why they didn't send her back to Italy. Being in a psychiatric institution when you are without your medication in a foreign country is not a good experience to go through.

"There are considerable problems in the operation of the family courts. Part of the solution to that is greater public scrutiny, but also we need to make sure there is more independence in the evidence provided by expert witnesses, such as social workers."

The newspaper said the woman came to Britain in July last year to attend a training course with an airline at Stansted Airport in Essex.

She had a panic attack, which her relations believe was due to her failure to take regular medication for an existing bipolar condition.

She was taken to a psychiatric facility and was restrained and sectioned under the Mental Health Act.

Meanwhile, social services obtained a High Court order for the birth to be enforced by way of caesarean section, the newspaper said.

In February, the mother, who had gone back to Italy, returned to Britain to request the return of her daughter, but a judge ruled that the child should be placed for adoption because of the risk that the woman might suffer a relapse.

An Essex County Council spokesman said: "Essex County Council does not comment on the circumstances of ongoing individual cases involving vulnerable people and children."

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