Another Injustice with Serious Effects

After posting about the S.D.A Appeals Tribunal, a woman contacted me.

She said that Mrs X 's husband of 16 years had left her for a younger woman. Mrs X has two young children who are playing up in response to their father leaving, and she is finding it hard to cope with their behaviour even though she understands it. .The younger child is teething and is especially miserable. Children who cannot verbalise distress act it out, and its not great with a stressed out mother who is ill with uncontrolled diabetes.

Her husband (their divorce is not yet final) is not paying Child Support and the Child Support Agency knows that, but they believe - quite rightly - that he ought to be paying, so they deduct from her Children's Allowance what they think he ought to be paying.

This means that Mrs X and her children have only £34 per week to live on. Her diabetes is very unstable and she is suffering frequent hypoglycaemic attacks, mainly because she can't afford to eat. Stress is playing its role too, of course, but her health would be greatly improved with an adequate diet. The professional health care workers she comes into contact with tell her repeatedly to eat properly and she does not dare tell them that she can't afford to because of the risk of having her children taken away and put into foster care. Unfortunately, in England there is a real and strong probability of that happening even though it costs hundreds of pounds per week to have a foster placement for a child. It would be far cheaper and much more satisfactory for the Authorities to give even a quarter of that amount to keep the family together. They have been through enough. The kids have lost their dad, and losing Mum and their own home would have severe long term effects on them, not to mention the risk to their mother.

A marriage breakup is hard to bear even for healthy people with adequate food and heating. This vulnerable family is near breaking point. Children need food and so do diabetics. I advised them to write to their MP urgently. This situation is completely ridiculous.