A council has become the first in London to rule that smokers will no longer be able to foster children.
Redbridge Council’s cabinet agreed Tuesday night to a ban on placing children with foster carers who smoke unless there are exceptional circumstances.
The local authority in northeast London said the decision, which will come into force in 2010, was made to protect children from the “damaging effects of passive and second-hand smoke.”
Other councils around the country have introduced similar measures, particularly relating to very young children, but Redbridge’s ban is thought to be the most far-reaching.
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“We know this is a difficult issue because some people will feel it is an intrusion on personal freedoms,” said Councillor Michael Stark.
“But we also know that smoking increases the risk of serious illness in childhood. On balance, we have decided children in our care shouldn’t grow up breathing second-hand smoke.”
The council cited scientific evidence that showed passive smoking caused lung cancer and childhood respiratory disease.
November 6th, 2008 at 8:18 am
Oh please, placing children in a homosexual couple’s home is a lot more damaging to a child’s mental health than smoking. What is this baloney? Smokers are now third class citizens, even though they pay outrageous taxes on every pack that fuels the government operations!
November 6th, 2008 at 1:43 pm
The demonisation of smokers has to cease. I am sick and tired of anti-smokers twisted logic and ’statitistics show’ bullshit. The ban on smoking in pubs has enraged me so much that if this wretched, nannying, health and safety obsessed Labour Government offered me a million pounds a year to quit smoking (or drinking), I would still gladly exterminate them all! I agree with the previous comment. Placing vulnerable children in the care of sexual deviants is far more dangerous, but it is politically correct.
November 6th, 2008 at 8:26 pm
this is the first tip toe step into telling you what to do in your own home.