This makes my blood boil: UK council removes foster children because foster parents belong to UK Independence Party

A friend of mine sent me a link to the following article with a short note attached: “This makes my blood boil.” And he is absolutely right; the following article would make any rational person’s blood boil. It clearly illustrates a classic example of repugnant liberals at work; a classic example of closet communism; a classic example of thuggery and intimidation. These closet communists now control every nook and cranny of local government, government departments, education, and the media. They manipulate and maneuver themselves into positions of authority and then inflict their power in an autonomous manner. They operate autonomously in much the same way as Al-Qaeda cells do. Obviously they don’t go around bombing and killing people, but they bully and intimidate nonetheless. I can’t imagine anything more despicable than removing foster children on the basis that their parents belong to the UK Independence Party. This would be akin to removing foster children from foster parents that belong to New Zealand First.

Listen to what Nigel Farage, UKIP's leader, said about it:

Read the Telegraph article: Council defends taking foster children away from UKIP members

A council has refused to back down over its decision to remove three children from their foster parents because their membership of the UK Independence Party meant that they supported “racist” policies. The husband and wife, who have been fostering for nearly seven years, said they were made to feel like criminals when a social worker told them their views on immigration made them unsuitable carers.

The decision by Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council has provoked widespread criticism, with campaigners representing foster parents describing the decision as “ridiculous” and warning that it could deter other prospective foster parents from volunteering. But Joyce Thacker, the council's Director of Children and Young People's Services, today said the three ethnic minority children had been placed with the couple as an emergency and the arrangement was never going to be long-term. She told the BBC Radio 4's Today programme:

"We always try to place children in a sensible cultural placement. These children are not UK children and we were not aware of the foster parents having strong political views. "There are some strong views in the Ukip party and we have to think of the future of the children."

"Also the fact of the matter is I have to look at the children's cultural and ethnic needs. The children have been in care proceedings before and the judge had previously criticised us for not looking after the children's cultural and ethnic needs, and we have had to really take that into consideration with the placement that they were in."

Asked what the specific problem was with the couple being Ukip members, Mrs Thacker told the BBC:

"We have to think about the clear statements on ending multi-culturalism for example.

"These children are from EU migrant backgrounds and Ukip has very clear statements on ending multiculturalism, not having that going forward, and I have to think about how sensitive I am being to those children." She added that there was no issue about the quality of care the couple provided and said she would co-operate with any investigation. The Labour Party, which runs Rotherham, today tried to distance itself from the council's decision.

A spokesman for the party said: "Membership of Ukip should not block parents from adopting children. There needs to be an urgent investigation by Rotherham Borough Council into this decision."

The couple, who do not want to be named to avoid identifying the children they have fostered, are in their late 50s and live in a neat detached house in a village in South Yorkshire. The husband was a Royal Navy reservist for more than 30 years and works with disabled people, while his wife is a qualified nursery nurse.

Former Labour voters, they have been approved foster parents for nearly seven years and have looked after about a dozen different children, one of them in a placement lasting four years. They took on the three children — a baby girl, a boy and an older girl, who were all from an ethnic minority and a troubled family background — in September in an emergency placement. They believe that the youngsters thrived in their care.

The couple were described as “exemplary” foster parents: the baby put on weight and the older girl even began calling them “mum and dad”. However, just under eight weeks into the placement, they received a visit out of the blue from the children’s social worker at the Labour-run council and an official from their fostering agency. They were told that the local safeguarding children team had received an anonymous tip-off that they were members of UKIP.

The wife recalled: “I was dumbfounded. Then my question to both of them was, 'What has Ukip got to do with having the children removed?’ “Then one of them said, 'Well, Ukip have got racist policies’. The implication was that we were racist. [The social worker] said Ukip does not like European people and wants them all out of the country to be returned to their own countries. “I’m sat there and I’m thinking, 'What the hell is going off here?’ because I wouldn’t have joined Ukip if they thought that. "I’ve got mixed race in my family. I said, 'I am absolutely offended that you could come in my house and accuse me of being a member of a racist party’.” Read more