Welcome To My World: 'I love my daughter and I pray to see her one day again': Agony of mentally-ill Italian whose baby was forcibly delivered through caesarean after court makes adoption order

Tuesday, 22 April 2014

'I love my daughter and I pray to see her one day again': Agony of mentally-ill Italian whose baby was forcibly delivered through caesarean after court makes adoption order

Mother came to UK in 2012 but was later sectioned under Mental Health Act
Social services then got court order to carry out forced caesarean section
Secret case led to public outcry and a top judge's calls for system to change
One-year-old girl has now been taken into adoption in the UK, judge reveals

The daughter of a mentally-ill Italian woman who was forced to undergo a caesarean section while visiting the UK has been adopted by a couple in Britain, it has emerged.

One-year-old Child P was born after social services in Essex applied to the courts to forcibly deliver her because of fears over mother Alessandra Pacchieri's mental health.

The shocking case, which was at first shrouded in secrecy, led to the country's top family judge, Sir James Munby, to call for family courts to be more open.

Alessandra Pacchieri was forced to undergo a caesarean after coming to the UK for a training course and her daughter was taken into care

The senior judge has now disclosed that he made an adoption order for the child earlier this month, meaning Miss Pacchieri is unlikely to see her daughter until she is 18.

Following the forced caesarean, Miss Pacchieri accused the family courts of 'invading my body and stealing my baby'.

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She added: 'Something very unfair has been done to me. I am fighting to get my daughter back and I never want another innocent mother in your country to suffer as I have.'

But in her last message to the court last month, Miss Paccheri, who has not seen her daughter since May 2013, did not challenge the adoption.

Sir James Munby, President of the Family Division, said the case demonstrated the 'pressing need for radical changes' in the family courts and Court of Protection

She wrote: 'Me personally, I am trying to forget this bad experience I had in England. I love my daughter and I pray to see her one day again.'

Child P, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, was born in August 2012, two months after Miss Pacchieri was sectioned under the Mental Health Act.

The 35-year-old Italian, who suffers from bipolar disorder, is reported to have come to Britain whilst pregnant to attend a training course with an airline at Stansted Airport in Essex but stopped taking medication and was taken into the care of a health trust.

The Court of Protection then gave the trust permission for doctors to carry out a caesarean section and the newborn child was taken into care by Essex social services.

The following October, Essex County Council was given court permission to place Child P for adoption, and in November 2013 she went to live with a couple, who have now formally adopted her.

Sir James said both Miss Pacchieri and the child's father, who has never seen her, were sent written notice and emailed by the county council about the adoption hearing on April 1, but did not attend and were not represented.

He referred to a 70-page confidential report which stated Child P has 'a strong and positive bond' with her new adoptive parents and she presented as 'a very happy and content little girl' who is 'very affectionate' towards the couple, called Mr and Mrs X in court.

The judge said: 'Mr and Mrs X are good and loving people. They are admirably equipped to meet P's needs now and in the future. P is obviously thriving in their care and doing very well.

'In all the circumstances, P's welfare throughout her life requires - demands - that she be adopted. Nothing else will do.'

At an earlier hearing, the judge bemoaned the fact that, at the start of the case, 'none of the relevant information was in the public domain in this country'.

Details of the Court of Protection's decision in the case were originally kept secret

He added: 'This case must surely stand as final, stark and irrefutable demonstration of the pressing need for radical changes in the way in which both the family courts and Court of Protection approach what, for shorthand, I shall refer to as transparency.'

Since the judge's comments last December, there has been increase in the number of family judgments made available to journalists and the media.

Details of the Court of Protection decision to allow a caesarian section remained secret for months, and there was a long delay in the public learning a judge had declared that doctors should be allowed to force Ms Pacchieri to have a caesarian section because a natural delivery risked rupturing her womb.

The judge had said there were concerns that if Ms Pacchieri was uncooperative when she went into labour, doctors would be unable to monitor the baby's heartbeat and to see whether Ms Pacchieri's womb might rupture. He authorised 'reasonable restraint' to perform the C-section safely.

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