Bexley parents WILL be reunited with their children – for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day only
By Stephen Green, National Director of Christian Voice
A Bexley couple have been financially enabled by the grace of God to appeal the original care order which saw their children taken away before Christmas 2015.
Mr & Mrs M were back in court on 21 November, hoping for a swift return of their children, taken into care after a false allegation of abuse from their eldest son, an allegation he has now retracted.
I attended court as an accredited journalist (objections to my presence from the Council’s barrister over the video we made about the case were overruled by Judge Diane Redgrave). The parents hoped Bexley would agree on a plan for the children to come home swiftly. Instead they opposed it claiming more counseling needs to happen. That means a contested hearing in early March and a lot more legal expense.
The good news: The family will spend Christmas Eve and Christmas Day together. The children will stay overnight and the same will happen at New Year. Her Honour was highly critical of the local authority and gave a clear indication that she wants the children to go home as soon as possible.
If you have prayed into this situation, and if you have supported the parents financially, thank God you are part of what he is doing for this family. Progress has been made by his grace and it could not have happened without you.
Please continue to pray that everything will go well, that the council will keep their word, and when the visits are supervised a glowing report will go back. Pray specifically for the parents to exhibit strength and grace and for the children to find healing for the emotional harm they have suffered at the hands of the local authority. Pray for the Lord to release the funding for the March hearing.
Click here for more of the story and the video – which the judge said she has seen!
In 2014 their eldest son made an allegation of physical abuse against the couple, and encouraged his three younger siblings to back him up. All four children were taken into care by the London Borough of Bexley and the parents were charged with abuse.
When the case came to the criminal court, in July last year, the parents pleaded not guilty (despite advice to the contrary from family court judge Diane Redgrave) and were acquitted when the children admitted they made it all up.
But Bexley did not return the children and in December last year, in a YouTube video entitled ‘Christmas ruined by Social Services.’ the parents told their story to Christian Voice.
They have been encouraged by scripture, especially by Psalm 35, which speaks right into this situation with almost every verse. Similar miscarriages of justice are happening daily in the family courts and Christian Voice is helping parents by putting them in touch with good lawyers, turning up in court (which helps keep the judges honest), helping parents tell their story and supporting them in prayer.
Psalm 35:23 Stir up thyself, and awake to my judgment, even unto my cause, my God and my Lord.