Grandparents (Adoption of Children) (Hansard, 17 February 1988)

§ Mr. Ray Powell (Ogmore)

I beg to move, That leave be given to bring in a Bill to provide legal rights to grandparents for the care or adoption of their grandchildren. By this Bill, I seek to highlight the fact that the law on this matter, besides being most complicated, provides little legal right for the grandparents of children who are at the centre of care or custodial proceedings arising out of divorce, legal separation or death of the parents or where the children have been the subject of abuse in the matrimonial home.

My Bill will seek to correct a situation in the law that was recognised and partially corrected in 1978 when the hon. Member for Cambridge (Mr. Rhodes James) commenced a campaign, erroneously called the "Grannies Charter", which led to extra clauses being inserted in the Domestic Proceedings and Magistrates' Courts Bill 1978. Those clauses allowed grandparents to apply to the courts for the right to see their grandchildren. The position in law was further recognised by the hon. Member for Westbury (Mr. Walters) when he introduced an amendment in 1986 to the Child Care Act 1980. I commend both hon. Members for their tireless efforts and all those whose speeches I have read on this subject. Indeed, I was pleasantly surprised at the extent of effort that has already been made. Nevertheless, the law as it stands provides little legal right for grandparents, for the most part, or for any other interested party, be that family, friend or neighbour.

The law should recognise that the grandparents, from time immemorial, have been regarded by all except the law as part and parcel of the family unit. It should recognise also that, like the children who are at the centre of access, care and adoption proceedings, the majority of grandparents are the innocent victims. The law should recognise and protect the close bond that develops between children and their grandparents.

Because the grandparents, when seeking access, care or adoption orders in the courts, are not treated as close family, as they should be, it leads to many distressing situations that neither they nor the children involved can understand. I should be the first to admit that the children's welfare must be of paramount importance and that there are times when the grandparents' suitability to look after young children is in question, but I know of cases when the grandparents' request for care or adoption has been turned down for the reason of age alone. I suppose that that is understandable in some cases, but it cannot be justified when the people who then become foster parents or guardians are older than the grandparents. That is totally unacceptable.

It is to be hoped that, by making the grandparents' legal position clearer in these circumstances, they will not be the subject of the sometimes unassailable and tyrannical treatment that is meted out to them by the employees of some social services departments. It is heartbreaking to read some of the letters that I have received from grandparents who have been at the receiving end of some of these caring services' decisions. Some people from social services seem to treat grandparents more like interfering strangers than loving members of a close family unit.

Even when grandparents seek access to their grandchildren — what could be more natural than a 998 loving grandmother or grandfather wishing to see her or his grandchild—things are not simple. There are many cases when grandparents have been denied this access by ex-sons-in-law or ex-daughters-in-law or, in some instances, sons or daughters, guardians or foster parents or even, dare I say, the social workers, who on occasions seem only too intent on destroying close family ties—for the good of the children, or so they purport.

I point out that, in the eyes of the law, there may be ex-husbands, ex-wives, ex-sons-in-law or ex-daughters-in-law, ex-fathers-in-law or ex-mothers-in-law, but there cannot be an ex-father or ex-mother, ex-son or ex-daughter or, indeed, an ex-grandparent or ex-grandchild. Blood binds these people together and blood ties cannot be broken by any laws. To attempt to do so is usually to cause great distress.

As I have already stated, the laws appertaining to children and young persons are complex and involve the law courts at many levels. Although I bring the Bill forward in an attempt to change the law for just one group involved, it would have been preferable if the Government had looked into the whole matter of child care laws and brought forward a major review. When debating this subject in the past, many hon. Members have advocated that a family court system should be set up to deal with the type of problems with which I have dealt.

I should like to place on record my deep indebtedness to the many grandparents who have taken the time to write to me on this subject. I am especially grateful to Mrs. Shirley Hefferman, the founder and organiser of POPET, the Parents of Parents' Eternal Triangle, for the wealth of information and help which she has so willingly provided. She has catalogued for the record 400 heartbreaking and emotive cases, some ending in suicide. I have no doubt that her efforts will be rewarded one day, and justice will be done.

There are 93,000 children in care today. An estimated 20,000 children are in care awaiting adoption. Most of them will still be in care at 16, and about 9,000 children are now in care in England and Wales because they have been deserted. Research shows that children in care for six months or more have only a one in four chance of returning to their natural families.

We have the Children Act 1975, the Domestic Proceedings and Magistrates' Court Act 1978, the Child Care Act 1980 and the Children and Young Persons (Amendment) Act 1986. Numerous other Acts cater for and cover child care, but it is essential that we examine the rights of grandparents. I believe that the Government have a duty and responsibility to reform all the laws on children and young persons. That will take time, effort and expense, but it is essential, if we are to give protection to children, that legal rights be given to people who are near and dear to them, so that they are afforded access to them, and the right to love and care for them. They should have the right to shower on the children the love and affection that children who have suffered through no fault of their own deserve.

Thousands of grandparents do not know where to turn when confronted with their grandchildren being taken into care. They should have the right to have their grandchildren before the social services take them into care and appoint guardians and foster parents for them. Most of the heartache I have been told about during the 999 past months could have been avoided if grandparents had been consulted at the start; in that way, the children that we seek to protect would have benefited.

Let this message go out loud and clear. Hon. Members care about the the plight and misfortune of children and parents—especially grandparents. We shall act to ensure that the law is just and fair and will be altered to protect and win further rights for thousands of heartbroken grandparents who are denied access to their grandchildren. My Bill will help all the thousands of grandparents in this terrible position who desperately want to give true love and understanding to their grandchildren. Theirs is such a pure, innocent, friendly, sexless type of real affection that it should not be denied to their grandchildren. The joy that that would give to grandparents can be clearly understood only by those who have experienced such a wonderful family bond.

For all these reasons, I ask the House to give me leave to bring in my Bill.