"I'd never even pushed him in a pram outside."
Ten years ago, when Salford Council was officially failing in its duty to protect children, Suzie F*, who had a very young son and daughter, suffered horrendous beatings by her partner...
"His friends would have to stop him from hitting me, he smashed the house up so I couldn't go out" she recalls "It wasn't just the violence, the mental cruelty was worse. I used to wake up in the morning thinking `Just get it over and done with because I can't walk around on eggshells thinking when's it going to happen', and making sure my children were out of the way."
Suzie took the unprecedented step of actually asking social services to remove the children for their safety and "so I could escape", but, after interviewing the father he was deemed safe to be around the children. Then, when he smacked his daughter, the police were called and the case was referred to social services... "but he was always deemed safe" says Suzie.
Eventually, she did escape the domestic violence and moved to a different part of Salford, where to her horror, she discovered her former partner had started a relationship with her 16 year old niece who lived around the corner... "There was no escape" she says... "He convinced my daughter that he wanted to see her, she let him in the house and he killed the family pet and smashed the house up repeatedly".
This time her ex-partner was taken to court charged with harassment and threats to kill, and was jailed on remand but Suzie wouldn't put her ten year old daughter through a trial. Non-molestation and restraining orders were put in place to protect both Suzie and the children... "but he was still deemed safe by social services" she says "Even when we went to court to get the final paperwork, me and a family support worker had to be ushered out of the back entrance because he and his friend were looking for me in court..."
Four years ago Suzie moved again, this time to the furthest part of Salford, found a new partner and, two and half years ago had a daughter with him.
"Unfortunately I took the baggage of my past relationship" she explains. The pair separated but, by then, Suzie found she was pregnant with his second child... "He told me to get rid of it, but I said I wouldn't and told social services what had happened..."
Suzie admits that she lied to social services, telling them that her second partner had moved out when he'd actually moved back in... "He said he was going to change and help get the house done" she says "My eldest son is very close to his step dad and my teenager is close to him in her own way and I didn't want them to go without. I didn't want them to suffer, he was brilliant with them."
Six weeks later, officers from Salford Council social services told Suzie that they were taking her to court to apply for the children to be taken off her.
"We'd done the house up, everything had improved" she says "My eldest daughter had decided to go to CAMHS for counselling and opened up about the past, the domestic violence that she'd witnessed. Because of her background she'd run away from home in the past but now she had settled. Yet when social services told her what the plan was she darted out of the door. They said `Leave her she'll be fine'. Fortunately my daughter had changed, so she went straight to my friend's house."
Meanwhile, Suzie had put a playhouse in the back garden for her toddler and equipped the house for the new baby... "even down to trainers, shoes and rattles that he won't even need yet....but they never told me the intention was to take the baby until the week before I had him."
The new baby was born in October. Ten days later he was removed from his mother... "I'd never even pushed him in a pram outside."
Salford Council applied to the court for the removal of all four children who were `at risk' but Suzie says that "even the judge ruled that there were no issues with the younger one."
The baby was taken off Suzie because, social services argued, she was on drugs and had failed a psychological assessment.
"I'm apparently on drugs because the baby was born with the jitters and a slight tongue-tie but there were no drugs in his system" she says "I offered to do a drugs test in court. The judge said to test for cocaine but I said that I wanted it done for the lot. I don't take drugs. I froze my breast milk to prove it.
"When I escaped my first partner, I went a bit silly for a few months, admitted it and they didn't remove the children then" she recalls "but they are removing them now when I've corrected everything that I could possibly have corrected."
It took weeks before a drug test was arranged, which proved totally negative... "I'll admit what I've done wrong but not what I haven't done wrong" Suzie says.
Meanwhile, the psychological tests were all done while Suzie was pregnant, which, apparently cannot provide an accurate reading because of hormone imbalance in pregnant women. Even so, social services are refusing to do the tests again.
All four children have now been taken off Suzie, and the only time she sees them is via a contact centre. At the centre she is not allowed to breast feed her own baby. There's also been a whole catalogue of heartbreak and failings...
"I got told that my son's leaving play, his last one ever at primary school, was at 2pm then the time changed and the social workers didn't notify me, so I got there as he was taking his make-up off, crying" says Suzie "I didn't get told about his sports day, I got told on the bus by another parent that he was crying he was so upset I didn't go. When it came to pick up his uniform for high school I went to meet the foster parent who was told I wasn't to go."
Even worse is that her first violent partner is now back on the scene, meeting his son at contact centre...
"My two eldest have had counselling from this relationship" she explains "It was so negative that I escaped from it and escaped from it and, three moves later, they bring him into the area into the contact centre near where I live. They take my son straight from school with his uniform and logo on. I am back to square one, because he knows I live in this area.
"The children are suffering and it's not fair" she adds "My 15 year old daughter wants to come home so much. My eleven year old son keeps asking me about his bedroom, they're eager to come home. My little girl comes running to me... They know they want to come home..."
If things couldn't get any worse, they did this week when Suzie learned that the two oldest siblings had been split up, the boy at a foster home, the girl in a children's home, against the rights laid down in the Children's Act 1989, which stipulates that siblings in local authority care `should be accommodated together'
"They are separating two vulnerable children who were taken from me because they were vulnerable, apparently, and sticking them into children's homes" she explains "My son has got special needs and my daughter has always been around to help. But now they are going to remove her from him, it's ridiculous."
From the story Suzie tells, it seems like a catalogue of failings by Salford Council in both child protection and protecting women from domestic violence. Indeed, the Ombudsman is currently investigating historical failings by the Council in its dealings with this family.
"I think they failed me and my family dramatically in the past, and now I think they've just gone over the top" says Suzie.
Indeed the problems which have resulted in a mother currently about to lose her four children all stem, it appears, from Salford Council's lack of action when the domestic violence Suzie suffered was not sorted out ten years ago.
A report last month by the Council stated that police responded to 5,831 domestic violence incidents in 2012/13 and, given that only around a third of incidents are reported, it suggested that domestic violence incidents in the city "could be as high as 20,000 per year"
The report added that "Within Salford exposure to domestic violence is the main contributory factor for children being on a protection plan". 34% of all children in Salford who are on a protection plan are there "due to exposure to domestic violence. This data emphasises the suffering domestic violence creates for children and young people."
Reports and action plans like this latest Domestic Violence Health Needs Assessment have come too late for Suzie and her family. Recalling her treatment 14 years ago by Salford social services she says "They didn't assist, they placed me with family support workers who came around and used to sit and talk to the dad more than listen to me."
Eventually, Suzie found organisations who could help, like SIDASS, Victim Support, Salford Women's Centre and the Freedom Programme*...
"I want people to learn that there are organisations out there and not to sit suffering domestic abuse" she explains "If I'd have got this help earlier it would have made a big difference. I'd say to women `Get help if needed, don't sit in silence and don't jeopardise what I did'."
Unfortunately, because of the fall-out from living with domestic violence, Suzie now faces a massive fight with Salford Council to get her kids home, with a further court hearing now adjourned until January.
"I also want to bring awareness to the fact that people think they have no rights but they have every right to fight the system" she says, now referencing the Human Rights Act and the Children's Act.
Suzie has been incredibly honest and open about her own complicated circumstances. She's even admitted lying to social services to try and save her family... "I'm doing everything I can, I'm going down every road I can do to prove everything I've done to get my children home" she says.
Suzie can quote over ten year's worth of perceived failings by Salford Council... "But it's my children who are suffering, it's not their kids" she says "These are my arms and legs, not theirs..."
Salford Star spoke to John Merry, Assistant Mayor for Children's Services, about Suzie's case but he said he couldn't comment as there were ongoing court proceedings
Suzie F isn't the real name of the mother. We have changed the name to protect both her and the children.
For contact details and more information on all these services click here
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