I WAS really angry at the criticism of the families of babies Levi Rose and Tara Jane Howe (Letters, July 2). The writer has obviously not had the sort of dealings with the Social Services that my son has had with them with regard to his daughter aged two and a half.

A court case has been going on for over a year now at great expense to the tax payer. Social workers admitted in court they had hidden possible evidence of alleged abuse and wasted nearly two days of court time, despite having ample time to prepare their reports and were heavily criticised by the judge.

The child in question was three and a half at the time. Her mother has four different children by four different fathers and has been undergoing counselling for years and despite a prison and criminal record, continues to be treated better by social workers than my son. He is desperate for custody of his daughter and has never been in any trouble and proved his commitment to her, but they treat him as the odd one.

One social worker stated that the mother will go on and on having more and more children and have problems, but they still say the children should stay with their mother for the sake of the other sisters involved, although the one in question has continued living with her natural father since the beginning of the case.

Perhaps when something bad happens to these remaining children they will do something about it - or maybe not.

We all love this child very much and will fight and keep on fighting for her protection. We have found the Social Services very sadly lacking and it's about time they were accountable for these tragedies.

Name and address supplied.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.