‘Unfit’ mum offered job working with children

A WATERHEAD mother considered unfit to look after her daughter by Oldham Social Services says the council offered her a job at a children’s centre.

The woman, separated from her six-month-old daughter in 2009, says she was offered the position as a full-time activity worker in March. She turned it down because of the emotional turmoil she says it would have caused.

The 23 year old, who wants to be known as Sam, is currently awaiting a hearing at the European Court of Human Rights, because she believes her child, now two, was wrongly offered for adoption.

But she was stunned to be offered the job that would have involved daily contact with youngsters.

She said: “I love children and I would love the job, but it would have been absolute torture for me to look after other people’s children.

“Seeing children in the park is bad enough, but playing with and looking after other people’s kids would have been sheer hell.

“They are the things I should be doing with my own little girl.”

The woman is fighting to get her daughter back and has already put forward her arguments for the European case, following failed attempts at the court of appeal. The Foreign and Commonwealth office has backed Social Services, arguing the separation was justified and that Sam was unable to look after her daughter.

Sam, who applied for the job out of principle, says the fact she was offered a job working with youngsters compounds a “catalogue” of contradictions in the case.

She argues that, as a child in care herself, failures in her upbringing were used as a reason to separate her from her daughter.

She added: “Judging by the way they portray me, would you want me looking after children?

“I’m devastated it’s had to come to this, but I’m not giving up. I’m going to clear my name. The consequences for future cases like this could be massive.”

Submissions by the Government argue that a lengthy judgment was made before the conclusion was reached that she couldn’t look after her child.

Sam has until November to provide further replies to the Government’s response. Oldham Council said it could not comment on the case.