Bradford abuse survivor on legal fight to have children returned

"Amy", whose identity is protected, was allowed to see the children up to three times a week for an hour during court proceedings

A sexual abuse survivor has regained custody of her children after 14 months apart following a legal fight.

Leeds Family Court heard the three children were taken away from her due to concerns including her mental health and her partner's substance abuse.

Speaking to the BBC, the woman from Bradford said better local mental health provision would have prevented them being "ripped apart" in July 2022.

"It was the worst feeling I'd felt in my whole entire life," she said.

BBC News has been able to report family proceedings, which are usually heard in private, as part of a pilot allowing accredited journalists to report on cases in Leeds, Carlisle and Cardiff.

Family courts have powers to make significant interventions - such as ordering children be taken into care.

"Amy", whose real identity is protected by law, has diagnoses of bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorder, anxiety and depression, court documents disclosed.

A psychologist found her mental health difficulties were "a product of her experiences and what has happened to her".

BBC Yorkshire has been able to follow family court proceedings in Leeds as part of a reporting pilot

Discussing returning to an empty home in July 2022, Amy said: "I remember me and my partner came back and the house was just silent.

"We just sat in complete silence, just realising that everything that we cherish and love in the world had just gone."

The court previously heard her partner had been addicted to crack cocaine and heroin and had convictions for theft "which he carried out to fund his addiction".

He had since overcome the addictions, assessors found.

The children have now been allowed to return to the family home because of improvements made by Amy and her partner since undergoing therapy.

Amy said: "Never for a second will I sit here and say we've been perfect and we've dealt with everything perfectly.

"But we were never helped to stabilise our situation, we were never helped to rebuild and to become the family that we wanted and were so eager to be."

Court documents described Amy as a victim of sexual abuse and said she had post-traumatic stress disorder because of what she had been through.

"[She] had not been provided with access to appropriate and necessary mental health support to facilitate a meaningful change in her well-being and ability to safely parent her children," a section reads.

The mother paid for the counselling sessions herself, but Bradford Council later reimbursed her and took over the fees.

The family will now have regular social worker visits to monitor their progress going forward

"I'd been on waiting lists for trauma therapy for years, they didn't give us the opportunity to do the therapy that we'd asked for before taking the children," Amy said.

There are calls for mental health support to be automatically offered to parents facing their children being taken into care.

Richard Devine, a consultant social worker, said: "A lot of parents who are subject to care proceedings will receive a psychological assessment, and these cost between £2,000-£4,000.

"If every assessment simply recommends psychological treatment, we could simply bypass the assessment and make the therapy available."

Mr Devine, who works in a local authority area outside of West Yorkshire, added: "We also need to consider the cost of children coming into care, it can cost up to £1,000 per child per week.

"The cost of therapy needs to be offset against the potential cost for that."

A judge criticised the time the case had taken to move forward, with it taking a total of 71 weeks to conclude

At the recent final court hearing, Judge Claire Murden set a 12-month supervision order - meaning the family will have regular social worker visits to monitor their progress.

Their access to parenting support and therapy had led to their improvements, the family court heard.

"They can grow up together within this family unit - under this plan they will not grow up in separate placements," the judge said.

A statement issued at the end of court proceedings said the couple had made "significant positive changes to their parenting and their progress overall is to be commended".

Amy was allowed to see the children up to three times a week for an hour at a contact centre during court proceedings.

Earlier in the case, another judge criticised a lack of progress, with it running for 71 weeks in total - almost three times the 26-week legal limit introduced to help limit the length of care proceedings.

"This is a very, very stale case that's been going on for almost a year," said Judge Simon Bickler KC.

"It's a grotesque failure of representation."

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"I think this will impact us forever," Amy said.

"I don't think we'll ever get over the fear, and the children, further down the line, will have more and more consequences."

Bradford Children and Families Trust, which runs children's and social care services in the district, has been approached for comment.

Amy concluded: "Getting to tuck my children into bed has become such an important thing that I will never, ever underappreciate again."