Have Social Services Exceeded Their Powers?

There was a time when being sent to Coventry was being given the silent treatment.

But if you are an 86 year old lady with dementia, who was 'lifted' from her Care Home by her own daughter to be cared for at home because she thought it better for her Mum, then it actually involves social workers and police with a battering ram arriving at your door and forcibly taking you back to the Care Home whether you wanted to or not.

With a blanket over your head - just like a criminal being taken from a court.

Social workers have had a rough time lately on what is clearly a hard job. But this kind of Gestapo-style seizing of defenceless people, who themselves have committed no crime, away from their own families is an abuse of power.

Surely this kind of use of police high profile, high force tactics should be the domain of the drug dealers, murderers and terrorists?

While the daughter may be the 'criminal' here, you have to ask why should a family member be treated in such a way when there were genuine concerns over the treatment of the 86 year old? The 'retaliation' by the social workers shows just how wrong our authorities can be in the use and extent of their power.

These are the people who want control of security cameras, who want access to our emails, who want to store our DNA, who want to have the right to force an entry into our homes. Frankly, that's just too much power and information in the wrong hands and it's absolutely clear that they will only abuse it.

If we think the campaigners are wrong about the abuses of privacy in this country, this is exactly the kind of people who crave access to it. And then they treat 86 year olds with dementia at best like a criminal and at worst like a football.

In the wake of the Baby P tragedy and even worse aftermath, it's obvious that even when the facts stare them in the face they cannot interpret them and use them properly - mainly because they are more interested in other things. This was a case of nothing more than some kind of trumped up social worker abusing power in some sort of personal vendetta against the family. In the process, they overstepped the mark, abused police time and treated an old lady like an inanimate object. Then they had the gall to say the family were at fault and not treating the old lady right - no doubt the blanket over the head was a way to keep the lady warm.

It is time we curbed the power of trumped individuals in this country.