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Kerry Robertson, “not bright” enough to care for a baby

Scottish teen Kerry Robertson, 17, pregnant and due in January has mild learning difficulties, this week she was told by social workers they believe she is not intelligent enough to look after her baby and that the child will be removed from her shortly after birth.

This news comes after her wedding was stopped also by social workers in a row over whether she is bright enough to marry.

She and fiance Mark McDougall, 25, will not be allowed to leave the hospital with the boy they have already named Ben and that he will be placed with foster parents.

Mark said: “Seeing Kerry so upset is absolutely heartbreaking and I am very worried that all this stress she is under will affect our unborn baby’s health.

“We’re just devastated by this and at the moment we just don’t know how we are going to cope in January. We have both already bonded with Ben and I can’t even begin to think what it will be like coming home without him.

“It seems unbelievably cruel but social workers told us that after an hour or two with Ben, he will be placed into the care system. They added neither Kerry nor myself will be allowed to remove him from the hospital.

“Social services are ruining our lives. They say they don’t believe Kerry has the mental capacity to look after a baby but this is nonsense. Kerry isn’t even being given a chance to prove herself as a parent. Yet, she is enjoying her pregnancy and would be a great mum.”

Kerry has been cared for by her grandmother from the age of nine months old after her parents were unable to look after her.

In Scotland, a marriage registrar may legally refuse to join a couple in matrimony if he believes one or both the parties lack the mental capacity to understand what the institution of marriage is about. Fife Council wrote the letter of objection and the registrar refused to sanction the marriage.

Mark said: “Everything was organised, from the church to Kerry’s wedding dress.

“Yet, despite arguing with the social workers that we loved one another and didn’t want our baby to be born to unmarried parents, they wouldn’t budge and we were forced to cancel our 40 guests.”

Kerry is still waiting to undergo a psychological assessment, saying her learning difficulties are not as severe as social workers make out.

Fiancee Mark points out that whilst Kerry ‘is not terribly academic’, she can read and write.

         

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