Please Don't Take Our Child

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Duration: 30 minutes

Each year around 20,000 children have their futures decided by the family courts. Baby William Ward was one of them. His parents Jake and Victoria were investigated by police and social services when they were unable to explain a serious injury to their three-month-old son. It took them two years to clear their names and a further three years to win the right to speak completely openly about what happened to their family.

Panorama's Darragh MacIntyre reports on the case of this ordinary couple and their extraordinary fight to open up the world of the family courts.

  • Family put under pressure by child abuse accusation

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    Panorama follows the case of a couple investigated by police and social services after being unable to explain a serious injury to their three-month-old son.
    It took Jake and Victoria Ward nearly two years to clear their names and a further three years to win the right to tell the full story of what happened to them.
    During that time, Victoria kept an intimate video diary of her experience of the family courts and the strain it put her family under.

  • Parents' child abuse 'nightmare'

    Parents' child abuse 'nightmare'

    Panorama reporter Darragh MacIntyre investigates the case of a couple wrongly accused of hurting their child and their battle to be able to name witnesses in the family courts.

    Read about one family's ordeal

  • Response from The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health

    Response from The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health

    Read the RCPCH response

  • Please Don't Take Our Child - join the debate

    Please Don't Take Our Child - join the debate

    Read or leave a comment on Please Don't Take Our Child

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    Panorama 2000 to 2008

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Credits

Presenter
Jeremy Vine
Reporter
Darragh MacIntyre
Producer
Asif Hasan

Broadcasts

See all broadcasts of Please Don't Take Our Child (5)

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