Now McCanns fear losing their twins into care

Sep 11 2007 by Caroline Innes, Liverpool Daily Post

THE parents of missing toddler Madeleine McCann fear their two-year-old twins could be taken into care.

Liverpool-born Kate McCann has told her parents she is scared Sean and Amelie may be put in care or placed on the “in need” or “at risk” register, after police and social services last night held talks about her case.

Mrs McCann’s father Brian Healy, of Mossley Hill, said he had spoken to his “distraught” daughter last night about her and husband Gerry’s fears for their remaining children and described the situation as “scary.”

Mr Healy told the Daily Post he had personally called Home Secretary Jacqui Smith to ask for her to intervene but has had little positive response from the politician who has said she is satisfied with the Portu-guese police’s investigation.

His comments came as authorities in the McCanns’ Leicestershire home town of Rothley yesterday met to discuss how they should now respond to Madeleine’s disappearance and the naming of her parents, Kate and Gerry, as formal suspects.

It was reported in Portugal yesterday that “biological fluids” with an 80% match of Madeleine’s DNA were found underneath the upholstery in the boot of the McCanns’ hire car, a silver Renault Scenic.

The sample was too badly deteriorated to make a 100% match possible, according to a Portuguese newspaper.

Mr Healy said: “Kate has told me that she has received calls that all the statements from the Portuguese authorities have been handed to the prosecution to process and also to social services in Leicestershire.

“She is distraught and really frightened for the future of the two kids.

“They are getting a lot of scary calls from Portugal, from the police and the authorities out there. But they are just trying it on, trying to make her break.

“Some of the things that they are saying are terrible. How much more can they go through?

“This is just so scary now and we are all angry.

“Susan (Mrs McCann’s mother) and I are trying to be strong for Kate and Gerry.

“Luckily, Kate has Sue’s brain and my stubbornness. She is a tough cookie when she has to be.”

Mr Healy added that he had rang the Home Secretary for help and advice but had had no response.

He said: “I cannot believe that Jacqui Smith has said she is satisfied with the Portu-guese police’s investigation.

“How can she say that when it has been such a shambles?”

He added: “We have been told not to comment on what is going on but it is hard when the people of Merseyside have been so supportive and just want to support them through this.

“People keep coming up to me in the street and just hug me and tell me how much they are praying and thinking of our family.

“They have been amazing. They know that Kate and Gerry are good people.

“There is no way that they have had anything to do with Madeleine’s disappearance.”

The Local Government Association (LGA) would not comment on the McCanns specifically, but it did outline what a social services authority in England must consider in similar cases.

If an individual was named as a suspect overseas and this was reported to police, their local social services department had a duty to consider whether action needed to be taken to ensure the children’s welfare, said the LGA.

It depended entirely on the nature of the evidence made available to the council, the association said.

Asked if it was likely that children in such cases were taken into care or placed on the “in need” or “at risk” reg- ister, the LGA said it depend- ed on the circumstances.

But either step could be taken following a period of assessment “with a view to maintaining the best interests of the children”.

Children placed on the registers are reviewed regularly by councils in terms of a “child protection plan”. But this would not necessarily mean that they would be taken out of their family home.

Asked if social services could get involved at a later date if not initially called on in such cases, an LGA spokesman said: “Dependent upon the circumstances of the case, it is possible that the case would be reviewed in the weeks or months following an initial assessment.”

Leicestershire County Council would not comment on the meeting.

carolineinnes@dailypost.co.uk