The courts continue to deny rights to stolen children

The courts continue to deny rights to stolen children

On the desk where I write is a child’s drawing showing the 11-year-old girl who drew it, imprisoned behind bars with two adults sitting in a room next door labelled “Guards”. Around the roof of the building are the words “Help me”, written 13 times, and in the sky above glowers a black, forbidding sun. This bright, articulate girl, who was taken from her home by social workers a few months ago on what seemed to be an absurdly flimsy pretext, would love to be allowed to come to court to explain to a judge why she wants nothing more than to escape from her prison and return to her loving family. But it seems there is no way she is to be granted her wish.