The conduct of social workers who rushed through the adoption of a baby girl before her natural father could prevent it was damned as "disgraceful" by three senior judges yesterday.

Lord Justice Thorpe said the decision to place the child with adoptive parents 24 hours before the father was due in court to fight for his daughter gave the "clearest inference" that the council was out to "gain its ends by means more foul than fair".

He accused East Sussex County Council of deliberately setting out to prevent the father from being heard in court and, in the process, adding to public mistrust of the secrecy surrounding Family Courts.

In an unprecedented attack on social services, the High Court judge referred to the Government "bonus" system which Rewards local authorities financially for meeting targets on adoption.

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He said: "Many assert that councils have a secret agenda to establish a high score of children that they have placed for adoption.

"When such suspicions are rife, a history such as this only serves to fuel public distrust in the good faith of public authority."

His views were echoed by fellow judges Lord Justice Wall and Lord Justice Wilson, who called the council's actions "disgraceful" and "an abuse of power".

The judges went on to dismiss - "with regret" - an appeal by the father against the enforced adoption of his daughter, but the two-to-one majority decision was issued with a scathing condemnation of the behaviour of the council.

Full article here.