Fran’s new anguish

Oct 4 2007 by Dave Black, The Journal

A PREGNANT woman faces losing her home as she battles to keep her unborn child.

Fran Lyon, 22, of St Hilda’s Road, Hexham, has been told by a social services safeguarding children panel that her baby will be taken from her because she is likely to develop a psychiatric condition that would cause her to harm the child.

Ms Lyon is fighting that decision and intends to take the case to judicial review in order to keep her child, who she has named Molly.

But the expectant mum, who is 27 weeks into her pregnancy, said that the time that had been taken up attending meetings, seeing doctors and filling in legal forms meant she was struggling to work enough to pay the rent.

Ms Lyon, who works as a director for a personality disorder charity, said she normally worked a 70-hour week to afford her rent, but that time had been halved because of the ongoing case.

She said: “It is one of the things which annoys me most about the whole situation. I used to be able to work a 70-hour week, which was absolutely fine, to be able to afford to live where I do in Hexham.

“But now I have to spend about 30 hours a week on things relating to the case, so I am not working as much, but I still need to pay the landlord.

“One example is that they have insisted that I go to see a psychiatrist. I don’t think I need to see one and I haven’t asked, but if I don’t do as I am asked then I am told I am being uncooperative with the doctors.

“I am pretty certain I will have to move house because there is no way I can continue to afford living here.

“I will just have to move out to something smaller, probably outside Hexham, to be able to pay the rent.”

Ms Lyon is also facing paying her own legal bills as she does not qualify for legal aid, as well as travel costs to and from appointments. She added “It is wrong because there is no system in place to help people in a situation like this. I didn’t ask for this to happen but I have to pay the consequences.”

Yesterday Ms Lyon attended the second part of her appeal into the safeguarding children panel decision to remove her child in Cramlington.

She will learn the outcome of the appeal some time next week.

Social services took the decision to take Ms Lyon’s child from her because they say she is likely to suffer from Munchausen’s Syndrome by proxy, a condition in which a mother will make up an illness in her child or harm it in order to get attention.

A Northumberland County Council spokesman said: “A recent inspection by a number of government departments found Northumberland’s safeguarding arrangements to be good.

“Legally we are unable to comment on the detail of individual cases. However we can say that in such circumstances, cases may involve receiving a high level of information and various significant concerns relating to the safety of a child.”