Monitor: The Bramley case

Views on whether the children Jade and Hannah should be allowed to remain with their foster parents after the family's return from Ireland

Daily Mail

JADE AND Hannah Bramley are the victims of a sexual revolution that has stripped our most intimate relationships of all notions of commitment, responsibility and love; and of an ethical revolution that has all but banished the equally vital notions of guilt and shame. The number of these victims grows by the month. And generous adoptive parents, such as the Bramleys, are their best hope of rescue.

The Guardian

EVERYTHING TO do with the Bramley case is alarming. Cambridgeshire has raised some powerful objections. There are serious doubts about would- be adopters who insist on being called Mummy and Daddy from the first day of fostering. Refusing to let the children see previous foster-parents, cutting them off from their few slender roots, was deeply wrong. Adopters playing make-believe perfect families is a recipe for later disaster. (Polly Toynbee)

The Express

WHO CARES if the children missed nursery or school? Who learns anything in today's schools anyway. It's mad that adoption should be so hard in a world where abortion, divorce, unwed motherhood and under-age sex attract so little disapproval from the authorities. (Peter Hitchens)

The Times

The Bramley case must be resolved as rapidly and transparently as possible. The unpredictable prejudices, petty political correctness and dithering which pervade child-care legislation have contributed to a sharp decline in the number of adoptions. If the high-profile Bramley case is not resolved quickly, decisively and transparently, yet more prospective parents may decide that it is more trouble than it's worth to foster or adopt.