SS ‘hired gun’ may be struck off

A wealthy psychiatrist who provided expert evidence on parents to enable social workers to take children into care may now be struck off the medical register, according to the Daily Telegraph and Sunday Express (the latter has the fuller report, by respected journalist Ted Jeory).

Dr George Hibbert misdiagnosed parents as suffering from personality disorders, it is alleged.  In one case, he is claimed to have concluded that a new mother, named only as Miss A, had bipolar disorder because the local social services department wanted her child to be adopted.

The story backs up the experience of many parents who have contacted Christian Voice. They say that Social Services use the flimsiest of excuses to take their children away from them and into care.  Put before the Family Court are expert psychiatric reports laced with innuendo, loaded comments and accusations.

Such evidence would never pass unchallenged in the criminal courts, but as the Family Court operates in secrecy injustice cannot be seen when it is being done.  The secrecy is supposedly to protect the children, but it can fairly be argued it is there to protect a system in which experts owe their living to social services departments and will never produce a report favourable to parents.

Christian Voice was told of one mother who was diagnosed as bipolar and a risk to her children because she liked shopping.  Another was said to be a danger to her children because she burnt the toast.

Mr John Hemming, MP for Birmingham Yardley, told Parliament: “He [Dr Hibbert] is someone about whom a number of people have complained. I am told that at least one person has refused to work for him because of what she saw as his unethical provision of reports to suit the demands of local authorities.”

Dr Hibbert charged local authorities £6,000 a week for every family in his care and £210 an hour to read documents such as medical records. His company, Assessment in Care, made a profit of around £460,000 in 2007 from its arrangements with social services.

Christian Voice has discovered that Dr Hibbert and his live-in lover solicitor Jill Canvin operate their companies Assessment in Care Ltd and Tadpole Cottage Ltd from their home in Tadpole Lane, Blunsdon near Swindon in Wiltshire.  A third company, ‘The Attachment Assessment Company Ltd’ was dissolved last year.  They also own properties at Windmill Farm, Common Hill, Cricklade, Wilts.

A website www.assessments-in-care.co.uk is registered to Dr Hibbert at 14a High Street, Calne BA2 3BH, the office of Jill Elizabeth Canvin.  The website is currently dormant and being held by Madasafish.

The main website www.tadpolecottage.org was taken down in summer 2012. Cached copies of its webpages revealed that Jill Canvin specialises not in representing parents, but “children in care proceedings where there are suspicions of abuse or neglect.”  The cached copies are offline as well now.  The website developers, Geeks Ltd, kindly provided us with a copy of the page on which the biographies of both Hibbert and Canvin were placed.  These reveal that Jill Canvin is a long-standing member of the Law Society Children Panel, which means she can appear in the secret family courts.

The website heavily promoted the “Tadpole Dialectical Parenting Assessment (TDPA)” a programme which it says “combines the law and psychiatry to develop online behaviour assessment software”.  It  claims to be “a revolutionary approach to measuring parenting capacity using web-based computing to analyse and present a wealth of information about current behaviour relevant to parenting.”

Hibbert even suggested, in a submission on the Family Courts made to the Justice Committee in August 2010, that the Government should adopt the software developed by him and Canvin and distribute it to local authorities.

According to that submission, parents are assessed by the Tadpole system as to whether they can:

* Consistently dress, feed, keep clean, be affectionate and protect their child;
* get their child to school on time, ready to learn;
* provide a home where he or she can achieve normal development;
* manage their own and their child’s behaviour without over-harsh discipline;
* protect the child from harm;
* organise everyday life adequately; and
* cooperate with professionals and show a capacity to recognise their own failings and accept guidance.

Social workers or psychiatric professionals in their pay could readily find fault with any competent parent using such a system.  Smacking a child in the eyes of a modern social worker would be ‘over-harsh discipline’.  Finding out that your child was abused behind your back would be ‘failing to protect the child from harm’.  Expressing any disquiet about the involvement of social services in the first place would be failing to cooperate, whilst even the positive ‘recognise their own failings’ will be used against the parents.

The Tadpole Cottage website says, “This unique, cost-effective measure offers major advantages in the worldwide effort to protect children.”

It could be argued that this means making it easier to get children into care.  And providing reports which assist social services to do that is how Dr George Hibbert and his cohabittee Jill Canvin make their money, lots of it.  How sad that highly-qualified professionals who probably started out with the loftiest ambitions should end up selling ordinary decent people down the river.

They need our prayers.  Our nation needs our prayers.

More about Dr George Hibbert HERE.

Post Script: In May 2013, the Swindon Advertiser reported that Dr Hibbert had won the right to challenge the GMC’s decision to investigate him in a judicial review.

Litigation for parents and children unjustly parted on false evidence is being handled by Paul Grant of Bernard Chill and Axtell in Southampton.  Their phone number is 02380 228821.

We understand cases will be taken on where the people concerned were parties to proceedings in which:

(1) An unfavourable expert report, containing demonstrable falsehoods which can be refuted by hard evidence, and which mirrored the prejudices of social services, was accepted by the court, or

(2) A contrasting report was obtained by the parents but was ruled inadmissible, or

(3) Children were taken away and subject to a closed adoption order which, although it was granted on demonstrably false premises, cannot be reversed.

PRAY this Psalm:

Psalm 10:1  Why standest thou afar off, O LORD? why hidest thou thyself in times of trouble?
2  The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor: let them be taken in the devices that they have imagined.
3  For the wicked boasteth of his heart’s desire, and blesseth the covetous, whom the LORD abhorreth.
4  The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts.
5  His ways are always grievous; thy judgments are far above out of his sight: as for all his enemies, he puffeth at them.
6  He hath said in his heart, I shall not be moved: for I shall never be in adversity.
7  His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and fraud: under his tongue is mischief and vanity.
8  He sitteth in the lurking places of the villages: in the secret places doth he murder the innocent: his eyes are privily set against the poor.
9  He lieth in wait secretly as a lion in his den: he lieth in wait to catch the poor: he doth catch the poor, when he draweth him into his net.
10  He croucheth, and humbleth himself, that the poor may fall by his strong ones.
11  He hath said in his heart, God hath forgotten: he hideth his face; he will never see it.
12  Arise, O LORD; O God, lift up thine hand: forget not the humble.
13  Wherefore doth the wicked contemn God? he hath said in his heart, Thou wilt not require it.
14  Thou hast seen it; for thou beholdest mischief and spite, to requite it with thy hand: the poor committeth himself unto thee; thou art the helper of the fatherless.
15  Break thou the arm of the wicked and the evil man: seek out his wickedness till thou find none.
16  The LORD is King for ever and ever: the heathen are perished out of his land.
17  LORD, thou hast heard the desire of the humble: thou wilt prepare their heart, thou wilt cause thine ear to hear:
18  To judge the fatherless and the oppressed, that the man of the earth may no more oppress.

Find out how to join Christian Voice and stand up for the King of kings (clicking on the link below does not commit you to join)

Please note that persons wishing to comment on this story must enter a valid email address. Comments from persons leaving fictitious email addresses will be trashed.