Foster Carers Speak Out
Posted by News Editor
Tuesday, December 06, 2005

In her 15 years as a foster carer Judy Drake never thought it was a job for someone who wanted an easy life. But in the past two years, she has lost 60,000 in income, has nearly lost her home and is 25,000 in debt because of false allegations.

Unusually, it was the local authority for which she fosters that made the allegations against her - allegations which began after she questioned an instruction from the authority about how two of her three foster children were to be treated. She was then said by the council to have claimed that the children had been sexually abused and suffered from various illnesses. It also alleged she had favoured one of the children and had not given balanced views about the two children to their potential adopters.

She has since discovered that some of the files relating to her case have gone missing, some have been rewritten and parts have been deleted. "I'm down as attending meetings I was never at," she says.

The independent investigation exonerated her but the authority has refused to sign the resulting report. Three months ago she went to the ombudsman. (more)
Acknowledgement Community Care