Investigation launched into why couple's foster children were taken from them 'after they joined Ukip'
'Exemplary' foster parents cared for three children from ethnic minorities
Staff from Rotherham council told couple that Ukip had 'racist' policies and their membership of it made them unsuitable carers
Couple left 'bereft' when the children were removed within a week
Education secretary says social workers at the council made 'the wrong decision in the wrong way for the wrong reasons'
A council that broke up a foster family because the parents were members of the UK Independence Party (Ukip) was strongly criticised by the Education Secretary today for its 'indefensible' decision.
Education Secretary Michael Gove said social workers at the council had made 'the wrong decision in the wrong way for the wrong reasons' and that he would be personally investigating and exploring steps to 'deal with' the situation.
The married couple claimed they had their foster children taken away from them for joining the political party by Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council.
By the council's own admission the youngsters were happy and there was no question mark over the foster parents' provision of care.
The council has also launched an investigation into why the three youngsters were removed.
Mr Gove, who heads the Government department responsible for children's services and who was himself adopted as a child, accused Rotherham of sending out a 'dreadful signal'.
'Rotherham council have made the wrong decision in the wrong way for the wrong reasons,' he said.
'Rotherham's reasons for denying this family the chance to foster are indefensible.
'The ideology behind their decision is actively harmful to children. We should not allow considerations of ethnic or cultural background to prevent children being placed with loving and stable families. We need more parents to foster, and many more to adopt.
'Any council which decides that supporting a mainstream UK political party disbars an individual from looking after children in care is sending a dreadful signal that will only decrease the number of loving homes available to children in need.
'I will be investigating just how this decision came to be made and what steps we need to take to deal with this situation.'
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Roger Stone, leader of Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council, today said 'We are going to investigate to make sure everything has been done professionally. If the professionals give advice, we take it.
'We are going to investigate - we always would if somebody complains. We are looking to make sure all the correct procedures were carried out before the decision was made. There is no policy, as has been implied, that if you are a British National Party member you can't foster children.'
Social workers told the couple, who were caring for three children from ethnic minorities, that the party had ‘racist’ policies and that their membership of it made them unsuitable carers.
The foster parents, who have been caring for children for nearly seven years and had been described as ‘exemplary’, said they were left feeling ‘stigmatised and slandered’.
The case has provoked outrage from across the political spectrum with Labour leader Ed Miliband saying: 'Being a member of Ukip should not be a bar to adopting or fostering children.
Rotherham council leader, Roger Stone, today announced an investigation into the decision
'We need an urgent investigation by Rotherham Council into the circumstances of this case.
'I don't know all the facts of this case but I am clear, what matters is children in Rotherham and elsewhere, and being a member of a political party like Ukip should not be a bar to fostering children.
'We need to find out the facts and the council urgently needs to get to the bottom of exactly what happened.
'The couple concerned are making extremely serious claims, very disturbing claims.
'Right-thinking people across the country will think there are thousands of children who need to be looked after, who need fostering, we shouldn't have the situation where membership of a party like Ukip excludes you from doing that.
'We need loving homes for children across the country. That can come in different forms, it's not about what political party you are a member of.'
The couple are worried they will be stopped from fostering again because of their membership of the UK Independence Party, which campaigns for Britain to leave the EU.
Around a dozen children have been cared for by the couple, who do not want to be named.
The three latest children, a baby girl, boy and an older girl from a troubled family, came to them in September on an emergency placement. But just eight weeks later, two staff from the Labour-run Rotherham council – the nearest to their village home in South Yorkshire – arrived and announced the local safeguarding children team had been told they were Ukip members in an anonymous tip.
The wife told the Daily Telegraph: ‘I was dumbfounded. Then my question to both of them was, “What has Ukip got to do with having the children removed?â€ÂÂ
‘Then one of them said, “Well, Ukip have got racist policiesâ€ÂÂ. The implication was that we were racist.
'[The social worker] said Ukip does not like European people and wants them all out of the country to be returned to their own countries.
‘I’m sat there and I’m thinking, “What the hell is going off here?†because I wouldn’t have joined Ukip if they thought that. I’ve got mixed race in my family.’
She claimed the social worker said: ‘We would not have placed these children with you had we known you were members of Ukip because it wouldn’t have been the right cultural match.’
The children were all removed by the end of the week, leaving the couple ‘bereft’. The wife said that the children had been loved like they were the couple's own.
The wife said: ‘We felt like we were criminals. From having a little baby in my arms, suddenly there was an empty cot.’
Her husband said: 'If we were moving the children on to happier circumstances we would be feeling warm and happy. To have it done like that, it’s beyond the pale.'
Nigel Farage (left) described the actions as a 'bloody outrage' while Ed Miliband said membership of Ukip should not be a bar to fostering
Described as 'exemplary' foster parents, the baby had put on weight and the older girl had even started called them 'mum and dad'.
The couple are in their late 50s and are former Labour voters. The husband works with disabled people and was a Royal Navy reservist for more than 30 years. The wife is a qualified nursery nurse.
The children, who stayed with the couple for eight weeks, were encouraged to speak their language which their foster parents were trying to learn, the foster mother said.
She denied that there had been any discussion between the family and Rotherham Council before the children were removed.
The woman said the council feared the couple could not meet the children's cultural needs in the long term - a claim the family denied.
Speaking to the Sheffield-based Star newspaper, the woman said: 'We were actively encouraging these children to speak their own language and to teach us their language.
'We enjoyed singing one of their folk songs in their native language, and having been told of the religious denomination of these children we took steps to ensure that a school of their denomination was found.'
The foster mother claimed the children have been placed with families who are also white British, and she questioned how the council thought these couples could fulfil the children's cultural needs.
A Rotherham council spokesman said last night: 'After a group of sibling children were placed with agency foster carers, issues were raised regarding the long-term suitability of the carers for these particular children.
'With careful consideration, a decision was taken to move the children to alternative care. We continue to keep the situation under review.'
Joyce Thacker, the council's strategic director of children and young people's services, said the decision to remove the children was taken after consultation with lawyers.
Asked what the specific problem was with the couple being Ukip members, Mrs Thacker told BBC Breakfast: 'We have to think about the clear statements on ending multi-culturalism for example.
Staff from Rotherham council in South Yorkshire, pictured, removed the children from their foster parents within a week of finding out they were members of Ukip
'These children are from EU migrant backgrounds and Ukip has very clear statements on ending multiculturalism, not having that going forward, and I have to think about how sensitive I am being to those children.'
She added that there was no issue about the quality of care the couple provided and said she would co-operate with any investigation.
Nigel Farage, the leader of Ukip, described the actions of the council as ‘a bloody outrage’ and ‘political prejudice of the very worst kind’ and accused the council of 'bigotry'.
He said of the incident: 'Very upset and very angry, particularly for the couple involved, who have been fostering for many years and are very decent people, and the awful shock to them of having these children removed, not to mention the upset to the children themselves.
'Politically, I'm afraid not surprised at all. This is typical of the kind of bigotry we get from the Labour Party and from Labour controlled councils. 'It was the Labour government that opened the doors to uncontrolled mass immigration into this country on a scale that we have never seen in the history of the island. And then anybody who tries to discuss or debate the issue is written off as being racist.'
Labour have urged the council to mount an urgent investigation. Labour leader Ed Miliband said: 'Being a member of Ukip should not be a bar to adopting or fostering children. We need an urgent investigation by Rotherham Council into the circumstances of this case.
'I don't know all the facts of this case but I am clear, what matters is children in Rotherham and elsewhere, and being a member of a political party like Ukip should not be a bar to fostering children. We need to find out the facts and the council urgently needs to get to the bottom of exactly what happened. The couple concerned are making extremely serious claims, very disturbing claims.
'Right-thinking people across the country will think there are thousands of children who need to be looked after, who need fostering, we shouldn't have the situation where membership of a party like Ukip excludes you from doing that. We need loving homes for children across the country. That can come in different forms, it's not about what political party you are a member of.'
Foster parent campaigners have warned that the decision could discourage other prospective foster parents volunteering.
David Goosey, the chairman of trustees at independent fostering charity Community Foster care said: 'If this is accurate and there are no other extraneous matters that have concerned the authorities, then it is completely ridiculous and no self-respecting authority should be stopping people fostering on the grounds of their membership of Ukip.'
Ukip’s manifesto is critical of multiculturalism and political correctness. It also urges Britain to restriction immigration and for the country to withdraw from Europe.
Recent national polls rate the party’s support as high as nine per cent after previously being considered a single-issue fringe party.
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