Cruel and Inhuman Social Services

From The Australian :

A British man arrested in the northwest city of Manchester for spanking his three-year-old son was forced to live away from his family for six months pending his trial in the case, judicial officials said today.

The 41-year-old man who was not named for legal reasons on Wednesday was found guilty of using excessive force when he spanked his child in public in June and was given a two-year rehabilitation order, a sort of probation period.

Officials said the man was freed on bail after his arrest in June but was not allowed to live with his wife and two children pending a resolution of the case. He was allowed to see his son only in the presence of a third party and social workers initially also prevented him from speaking with his child on the telephone.

The man was arrested after a police officer saw him spanking the boy on a street in a suburb of Manchester after the child ran off in front of a car and almost got run over, his attorney said. The man's wife and months-old baby girl were present at the time.

In a statement, Manchester police justified their action saying: "The level of force which was used was over and above what is necessary to discipline a child."

Unless the little bloke was hit with enough force to leave bruises, and hit repeatedly, there is no way that the damage to him could come within a million light years of being prevented from seeing Daddy for so long. Remember, the little tyke had come within a hair's breadth of being run over, and it's unlikely the parent was mentally competent at that moment. I'm not sure I would be. Either the "Two year rehabilitation order" was nowhere near enough for a monstrous case of physical abuse, or the "social workers" who prevented the kid from talking to Daddy on the telephone should be convicted of blatant mental cruelty to children, an abuse of power.

I suspect the latter - as even an abusive father should have been allowed telephone contact, unless he was a psychotic paedophile. And a 6 month delay? Cruel and Inhuman under any circumstances.