Petition for prosecution of British couple who abused Zimbabwean child

LONDON – A leading Zimbabwean lawyer based in the UK, Yvonne Gwashawanhu, has started a petition to force an investigation into the adoption and fostering at the Lancashire County Council in the United Kingdom.

This follows the story of a black child who was placed by her mother, a Zimbabwean asylum-seeker, with a white British couple.

In August this year a judge ruled that the girl who soiled herself was made to kneel in scalding water by her foster mother during years of “emotional abuse and neglect”.

The details of the abuse emerged in a judge ruling published following a private hearing at a Blackpool family court. The couple were not named and the ruling gave no indication as to whether they had been charged with criminal offences.

Judge Sarah Singleton said the girl who was born in Luton (and is now 12) had been treated with “cold contempt” and was also bitten by her foster parents’ dogs. She said the girl had been left physically scarred and “deeply traumatised”.

According to a BBC report at the time “When she soiled herself the girl had been forced to strip naked and peg her dress on the washing line. She then was either “shut outside or made to sleep on the landing”.

The judge said the foster mother had demonstrated more warmth for her animals than the girl. The foster mother repeated the “highly-offensive ‘N’ word” with “alarming facility” in court, she added.

The foster father also described the little girl as “strange and disturbed” adding: “Maybe it was because she was African”.

“They dealt with her racial identity insensitively – or, frankly, they did not deal with her racial identity at all,” Judge Singleton concluded.

Police and social workers became involved after neighbours and school staff raised concerns but “opportunities to protect had been missed”, said the judge.

The girl was eventually removed following her complaints about the foster mother’s “cruelty and abuse” during sessions with a counsellor organised through a school.

In a petition started by Yvonne Gwashawanhu, the Zimbabwean lawyer says “there has been no mention that this couple has been prosecuted nor in regard to the steps that the council has taken to avert a repeat of this.

“The purpose of this petition is that the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Children and Families order an investigation into Lancashire County Council in regard to the ill-treatment, neglect and emotional and physical abuse of the young child of Zimbabwean origin.

“More importantly, the incident must be investigated because the Mother of the Child in question, recorded as an asylum seeker may have left the country or feel powerless to seek redress because of her immigration circumstances,” she said.

If the petition reaches 10 000 signatures, the UK government will be forced to respond under the rules governing petitions to Parliament.

To sign the petition visit this page: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/106842