Social services ‘missed chances’ to stop mother forcing daughter to impregnate herself

Social services missed chances to stop a mother from forcing her 14-year-old adopted daughter to impregnate herself with donor sperm so she could provide her with another child, a review has found.

A serious case review found that the agency was contacted on four occasions with concerns before the girl gave birth to a son.

The family was dealt with by an unqualified officer who did not arrange any visits to the home.

The girl, who cannot be named, was told by her mother to inseminate herself seven times over a period of two years until she had a baby aged 16.

Despite having a miscarriage at the age of 14, she was forced to continue trying for a baby after her mother was prevented from adopting any more children.

The sperm was bought over the internet by her mother, who is now serving a five-year prison sentence after admitting child cruelty.

The review, published today, found that the local children’s social services department was simply “fobbed off” by the mother, and an opportunity was missed to assess what was taking place.

The report also said a GP should have reported an allegation that the daughter, who was 14 at the time, had been sexually assaulted or raped to the police or local authority.

The health visiting service also gave “insufficient weight” to repeated safeguarding concerns about the family and may have been influenced by the “social profile of the family” who were “educated, articulate, middle class”, it said.

The mother has since refused to accept that anything she did was “unlawful or inappropriate”, the report said.

The case was heard at the Court of Protection and reporting restrictions means that the family, the local authority and the region of the country in which they lived cannot be named.

The report also raised questions about how effectively local authorities can check on children who are being home-schooled and about the effectiveness of the laws governing online purchases of sperm.