"I refer the House to my declaration of interest as chairman of the Justice for Families campaign. Does the Minister accept that there are some people, including myself and some in foreign countries, who believe that sometimes children are adopted who should not be adopted?..." John Hemming - View Speech
"I must congratulate the hon. Member for Rochdale (Simon Danczuk) on his very good speech, much of which needs to be listened to and understood. It is not that we do not have the right laws in place; it is that the professional judgments made by practitioners are often basically …..." John Hemming - View Speech
"I thank the hon. Gentleman for that excellent intervention, but I shall not take any more because of the Speaker’s advice.
Let me explain one of my concerns about the Government’s complacency on this issue. We have the SSDA903 return, which tracks what happens to children as they leave care. …..." John Hemming - View Speech
"We now have about three minutes if we are to get everybody in. When do we have until? Is it not until 6? [Interruption.] Okay, I will keep going and stick to time. If I have six minutes, I will be quite happy. I want everybody to have …..." John Hemming - View Speech
"Sixth-form colleges in Birmingham are trying to assess how much the lower sixth-formers need their EMA. Does my hon. Friend think that that is a useful process?..." John Hemming - View Speech
"May I wish you a merry Christmas, Mr Deputy Speaker?
I rise on an issue that continues to concern me greatly. I repeat my declaration of interest that I chair the justice for families campaign. I am sure that Members on both sides of the House wish to see the …..." John Hemming - View Speech
"I thank the hon. Gentleman for that intervention. There is a need for a care system, but it has to get things right. One of the reasons children are often taken into care is that the mother has been a victim of domestic abuse. Women’s Aid argues that we should …..." John Hemming - View Speech
"The difficulty is that it does not appear that the law is being followed. Will the Department establish an ombudsman scheme to review individual cases and see why the law is not being followed?..." John Hemming - View Speech
"Given that about a quarter of adoptions are disrupted, and the children are returned to care, does my hon. Friend take on board the point that any statistical test of the effect of adoption should include the effect on those for whom it fails?..." John Hemming - View Speech