  |
|
 |
|
|
|
Couple barred from fostering after admitting they smack their daughter 'as a last resort' SAM GREENHILL Their local council was so desperate for foster parents it said even single mothers and criminals would be considered. So when chartered surveyor David Bowen and his wife Heather applied, they were somewhat surprised to be rejected. Married for 11 years, the professional couple were even more startled to learn the reason – they had admitted they sometimes resorted to smacking their own child. Their nine-year-old daughter Emma, they said, was occasionally chastised physically as a last resort, in accordance with their beliefs and within British law.
But Somerset County Council – which says on its website that foster parents can be homosexual, disabled, on benefits, have a criminal record, be of any age, religion and gender, and be married or single – ruled the Bowens were unsuitable. Mr Bowen, 41, is a school governor while his 47-year-old wife is a special needs adviser who has just been offered a job as a primary school teaching assistant. They live in a four-bedroom semi-detached house in Taunton, Somerset, and attend church every Sunday. Three years ago their second child, Jonathan, died shortly after birth with a rare skeletal condition. The couple failed to conceive again and decided to apply to foster.
|
||||
