URGENT CALL FOR LEGAL ADVICE:

 

Urgently seeking a UK Solicitor or Barrister specializing in the Court of Protection, Mental Capacity Act 2005, Care Act, and Human Rights Act (Articles 5 & 8).

 

An 18-year-old autistic woman is being subjected to an unlawful deprivation of liberty based on unfounded cultural assumptions, with no court order or DoLS authorization in place. If you can offer representation, legal aid assessment, or pro bono advice, please contact us immediately through this page to help end this severe overreach of power. 

 

 

 

I am posting this in support of a family who are desperately seeking help and do not know where else to turn.

 

A young autistic woman, now 18, spent years in residential care before transitioning to supported living as an adult. She has a loving, close family who were actively involved in her life throughout.

 

Following a routine parental request

— asking their daughter to bring a document home for safekeeping —

 

Professionals formed the view, without any investigation, without contacting the family, and without any evidence, that the family posed a risk of kidnapping and forced marriage.

 

The family are British Muslims, and they believe these conclusions were reached on the basis of cultural and religious assumptions rather than any facts.

 

The consequences have been devastating:

 

— The young woman was told by her social worker, mental health professionals, and police that her own family was dangerous. 

— She was advised by professionals to cut off contact with her mother. 

— When she independently chose to travel to visit her family, she was intercepted by police and returned to her placement — despite being a legal adult with no court order or deprivation of liberty authorisation in place. 

— The family has raised these concerns repeatedly with the responsible local authority, up to Deputy Director level. 

— The family has been unable to find legal representation despite the case raising serious issues under Articles 5 and 8 of the Human Rights Act, the Care Act 2014, and the Mental Capacity Act 2005. 

 

Critically — social services involvement in this family's life was solely for Section 117 aftercare funding under the Mental Health Act 1983.

 

There were no child protection concerns. No safeguarding issues within the family home.

 

They were involved to fund her care — nothing more. They had no mandate to assess, restrict, or make judgements about the family relationship. In doing so they acted entirely outside their remit.

 

This family has been failed at every level. A young vulnerable woman has been separated from the people who love her most, on the basis of assumptions that were never investigated and allegations that were never put to the family.

 

But this family is not alone. We know that racial and cultural bias in social care affects families from many communities across the UK — assumptions made about South Asian, Black, Middle Eastern, and other minority families that would never be made about white British families in the same circumstances.

 

These assumptions destroy relationships, separate children and young people from those who love them, and go largely unchallenged because families do not have the resources to fight back.

 

We are reaching out for two reasons:

 

 

1. If you are a solicitor, advocate, journalist, or organisation with experience in this area and you may be able to help or signpost this family, please get in touch via direct message.

 

2. If you are a family who has experienced racial or cultural bias at the hands of social care services — whether involving forced marriage assumptions, cultural misunderstandings, or decisions that you believe were influenced by your ethnicity or religion rather than the facts— we would very much like to hear from you.

 

You are not alone, and sharing your experience, even privately, helps build a picture of how widespread this problem really is.

 

 

Sharing this post could make a real difference.

 

Thank you for reading.

 

#SocialCare #AutismAwareness #HumanRights #CulturalBias #RacialBias #ForcedMarriage #CareLeavers #MentalCapacityAct #CareAct #LegalAid #FamilyRights #MuslimFamilies #BlackAndMinorityEthnic #SocialJustice #AdultSocialCare