Mother whose 13 children were taken into care is pregnant again

Theresa Winters, a woman who has already had 13 babies taken into care, is pregnant with her 14th child – and says she will keep on trying for more until she is allowed to keep one.
  Miss Winters, 36, has not been able to keep any of her offspring beyond the age of two, but insists she deserves a second chance at being a mother.

Miss Winters, 36, has not been able to keep any of her offspring beyond the age of two, but insists she deserves a second chance at being a mother.

She admits that social services had made the right decision in removing her first 13 children because she had neglected them, but claims to have “calmed down” now.

Miss Winters, who was taken into care herself as a teenager, says social services should be helping her and the father of 11 of her children, Tony Housden, to achieve their “dream” of becoming a family.

She told the Daily Mail: “We feel like social services are treating us like murderers when we haven’t done anything.

“All we want to do is be a family and look after our children, it is very upsetting.

“We want help from social services, but they won’t help us.”

However, her sister has said she is a “baby factory” who has vowed to keep getting pregnant.

Louise Walls, 37, a mother of three from Northampton, said: “Whenever I have asked her why she keeps getting pregnant when she knows the baby will be taken off her she says ‘I don’t give a —-‘, I just want the government to pay for them.

“It’s pure spite. As long as she is not allowed to keep a child her attitude seems to be that she will get her own back by making the authorities pay to look after them and bring them up.

“She has told me she will only stop getting pregnant the day they stop taking her babies off her.”

Miss Winters, who is 25 weeks into her 14th pregnancy, had her first child aged 19 with ex-husband Wayne Redding.

Their daughter was taken away when she reached the age of two after the couple were accused of neglect.

They went on to have a second child, who was also put into care.

Miss Winters divorced Mr Redding, who has since died, after she began her relationship with Mr Housden, who had been a lodger in their home.

The new couple, from Luton, Bedfordshire, then went on to have another 11 children.

Four had a rare degenerative condition, and one has since died.

The parents have been told they cannot keep their children because of “concerns about severe neglect, lack of parenting ability and the consequent risk to any child in their care”.

Miss Winters admits: “I was a bit aggressive, but never towards the kids.

“In one sense they were right to take them away, I was young. They looked at it thinking that if I was aggressive towards social services, I’d be aggressive toward my kids.”

However, she insists she is a changed woman.

Miss Winters receives £271 a month disability allowance because she has been left unable to work after an accident that makes it difficult for her to walk.

Mr Housden, also 36, is her carer and they receive £511.33 a month income support, £300 for council tax and housing benefit on their one-bedroom home. He gave up his job as a pizza delivery man 17 years ago.

A spokesman for Luton Council said: “It is a court process that results in babies being separated from their parents and throughout the process, parents can be legally represented and fully involved.”