Social work or punishing non-conformity?

[rynnor]

I read this rather disturbing article today:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-22487597

Punishing people when one clearly has mental health issues (hoarding is a form of obsessive compulsive behaviour) and where the house was not a health risk.

There are thousands of families in the UK with kids where both parents are junkies who do sod all for their kids yet the state chooses to persecute this family?

Something is wrong here...

 

[BloodOmen]

Does seem odd that they'd go to extreme lengths to prosecute them rather than offer them help they clearly need, as you said there are junkie/drug dealing parents all over the shop that get away with it so why were these 2 treated so harshly? despite the fact the kids did live quite poorly they don't seem to have done an awful lot wrong? so why not remove the children and offer the parents much needed counselling rather than clearly just adding to the depression by treating them like common criminals.

 

[rynnor]

I think its a test case probably pushed by the NSPCC looking for new things to criminalise now that smacking is gone.

I think they were ill advised to plead guilty to these offences tbh - how this ends up at the old bailley I have no idea but I presume they were trying to set a binding precedant.

 

[Job]

Methinks someones reading too many ideal home magazines..the guys got a good job and the kids arent being abused...thousands of kids live in untidy homes...they even aitted it was clean...does seem a bit odd...must be more to it.