A manipulative mother who did all in her power to turn her eight-year-old daughter against her father has herself been condemned as a child abuser by the Court of Appeal. The woman paid the price for her false accusations when the Court ruled that her little girl had rightly been taken from her by social services and placed in foster care.
Following the break-up of her relationship with the father, the mother had accused him of sexually inappropriate behaviour towards their daughter. She had done everything she could to poison her daughter's mind against him even though the youngster 'delighted' in the time that she spent with him.
Following a fact finding hearing, a family judge had dismissed each and every one of her accusations, describing her as a 'worryingly obsessed' woman who had come to 'believe her own propaganda'. He made an interim care order and authorised the local authority to place the girl in short-term foster care, pending a final decision on her future.
In challenging that decision, the mother claimed that the judge’s conclusions were plainly wrong and that she had been unaware that the removal of her daughter was even on the cards. However, in dismissing her appeal, the Court noted, "Given the prevalence of false allegations made by parents against each other…conduct at this level by a parent should be understood to be serious child abuse."
Even if the mother was suffering from some kind of behavioural or psychological condition, she had proved herself 'bent on manipulation' and the false stories that she had told her daughter about her father were 'inexcusable and highly damaging to the child'. She could have no complaint of unfairness and had been warned in clear terms that she was at risk of having her daughter taken from her if her accusations against the father turned out to be false.