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The place where children meet their parents is equipped with video surveillance cameras and has a checkpoint at the entrance. When children are literally stolen by social services like Katya, families are rarely allowed meeting anywhere else but in these family’s centers. There is a small room with toys like in kindergarten and also an access to the walled garden. A social worker is presented: the supervisor, who records everything that happens between the mother and the child. If the child is abducted by the social services and there is intention to transfer the child to the adoption agency, like Katya, the social workers are selected very carefully. Laila had said that all social workers who treated them well and faithfully recorded what happened between mother and daughter were replaced. There had been left only those who deliberately distorted information. Laila’s appeal to the High court was dazzled of comments about distorted information.

Usually, children are brought to the family centre by the car of a social worker. It is not always safe for children. Some time ago Laila’s daughter got in a car accident when the van crashed into the car of social worker. The car accident was thoroughly hidden and the child did not even see a doctor. When Laila had demanded from the social services to investigate the accident, they said simply, "Laila, it could be happened with everybody. Ever you could get in a car accident". The day when I had taken the pictures of Katya she had been brought into the family center by her foster carer. Katya’s foster carer comes from Mauritius Island. She is the kind but illiterate woman who confuses how to use the tenses in English. Katya also uses the English tenses incorrect. In addition, Katya’s foster carer loves to celebrate different events and the child often participates in various feasts. Sometimes Katya ever get a glass of special "baby champagne." Katya's mother was horrified.

There are some more obstacles about Katya. When the child was taken under care of social services in the age of two, it brought the great psychological trauma to the child. Katya’s mother said that when she saw Katya at first time, after a week when Katya was taken under care of social services, the child was very scared and could not say a word, only was mumbling. The social workers had broken The Convention about the right of the children of UNO and had deprived Katya not only the mother but also native language. Katya’s family spoke Russian and that was a native language for Katya. It was not surprised that the doctor had later certified that Katya had a speech delay. Moreover, Katya, who once was a very sociable child, became scared of strangers. She had also developed the behavior which very worried the mother: Katya become the very anxious child who was often crying and some time was hysterical. When Katya got older and could speak English she told the mother that somebody was saying her that Katya’s mother did not love her and had abandoned Katya. The social workers had carefully prepared Katya to the forced adoption.

Every time when Katya is seeing her mother, the child has to be used to her for a little time. The social care workers are doing all that the child has forgotten the mother. It is the strategy for the forced adoption.

As it was expected, I was forbidden to photograph the family. It was all despite of the objections of Laila that she was not deprived of her parental rights. She insisted that she is the mother of the child and wanted to have family portraits to have taken with a good camera. Waiting for something like this, we have developed some strategies. I had to shoot the family without waiting for permission, before the stunned social workers would put me out. We had only a few minutes of time to take pictures but we were successful. On the picture Laila is deploying the doll which she has bought as a gift and Katya’s sister Mayja is keeping Katya on her lap.

I was going to take photos when the family went out from the family center and was waiting at the entrance. But the social worker had come out first and blocked the entrance for Laila, Mayja and Katya demanding that I must lower the camera. I did not want to create the problem for the family and had not done the photos. However, I managed to get the picture of the social worker who had held her hostages behind her back.

On the way back we were stopped at the area where Katya’s school is located. It was carefully enclosed by the high fence. As it was known from the British newspapers sometimes the parents were arrested and sent to jail simply for trying to see their beloved children in the schoolyard.

Near the school was another family center which was sometimes also appointed for a meeting with Katya. Laila had said that it was the worst of the family centre and it was a similar to a prison. There were security guards and video cameras and the room for the meeting was too small that the mother and the child almost run into the lap of the social worker who was guarded the meeting.

There was waiting for a commuter train. Then we had finally arrived to home. There are some more photos of Laila and her eldest daughter Mayja.





There is Mayja, the eldest daughter of Laila. She has already turned 21. She is now a student of the University and she is studying the psychology. Unfortunately, the court hearings in connection with Katya knocked the whole family out of the rut. Maya was presenting at the trial which decided the fate of her sister and could not attend the classes at the university. Fortunately, she was allowed to take the missed exams later. Maya filed a statement for a court to allow her to be a guardian of her sister. But the court refused her at this right as the social workers before that. This is again the offence of Convention of the right for children of UNO but for the British family court and the social workers it is meaning nothing.

There is the citizenship certificate of Katya who is the citizen of Latvia as a whole family. The social workers of London Borough of Merton are going to replace the citizenship certificate and birth certificate of Katya by new one, where Katya will be a British citizen with a new name. It is contradict to the UNO Convention about children right, but nor social workers, nor British Family court do not worrying about it. The Latvian embassy is reluctant to intervene in the situation like the state Latvia. The only paper which Laila has received from the Latvian’s embassy is the note where is saying that under Latvian’s law no one could change a passport of child without the permit of parents if they do not deprive of their right or the guardian if the parental right are deprived. Laila has not deprived her parental right in Latvia and ever in Britain. The British Family Court do not worried about it. The children of foreign nationality are easy to achieve victims and for the British social workers, and for British Family Court. So far the only Slovak government outraged and threatened to appeal to the European Court when it has found that in the three years near hundred of Slovak children were trapped by adoption agencies of the UK. There is no secret that sometimes the fate of adopted children is very bad. They can be the victims of sexual abuse and so on. Laila has the reason to fear that the forcible transfer her daughter to someone else's family will lead to a bad outcome.

There is an excerpt from the last letter of Laila:

“I am looking on the streets and always ask myself, who are the people who are passing by with the children. Are they parents or they are social workers, guardians, foster carers? I'm actually see this country divided into two categories - those who give birth to their children, and those who pick them up, robs, steals. You have to be in my shoes to understand what is going on with the mother, who is bullied, robbed of her child and who knows that her child is held as a hostage and the child is for who the mother still tries at a last effort to control herself ...”