writer of @MissLittlewood; teacher @RoyalAcadMusic. queer. dad. adopter. he/him. Rep’d @TheSohoAgencyUK Debut novel: I Am Not Raymond Wallace https://t.co/h7zIEtyJ7h
Jun 29, 2022 • 10 tweets • 3 min read
Children, Care, Citizenship and Good Character: a 🧵.
When it comes to UK citizenship, all children born in the UK are not born equal. A baby born in the UK is ONLY granted citizenship if at least one of their biological parents is a British citizen or settled. As to the rest...
...well, since the British Nationality Act 1981, those children can even be left stateless. As John Tilley (Lab. MP. Lambeth Central) said at the time: "For the first time in 700 years, children will be born in this country who will have no nationality." api.parliament.uk/historic-hansa…
Jun 13, 2022 • 25 tweets • 5 min read
LGBTQ+ Adoption: a 🧵.
In 2018, when I rang the first adoption agency - a major, central london-based charity with an “outstanding” Ofsted rating - we spoke to, I was asked what age of child we anticipated adopting.
“We were thinking of around about 18 months,” I said.
The Duty Social Worker laughed, and said:
“Older children with more problem tend to be placed with gay couples. Younger children with fewer problems tend to be placed with heterosexual couples.”
Jun 8, 2022 • 14 tweets • 4 min read
Adoption: a 🧵.
It's exactly three years since our daughter's social worker told us that they couldn't provide us with a passport for her, because it turned out (despite their previous insistence otherwise) that she wasn't a British citizen.
The background: every UK local authority pledges to provide every child taken into their care with citizenship. However, because the UK govt charges more than £1k per application, local authorities routinely let that issue slide.
Jun 8, 2022 • 4 tweets • 3 min read
So I AM NOT RAYMOND WALLACE is now delightfully available to preorder from a number of online platforms, including directly from the marvellous @InkandescentUK, where you can also read what a number of early readers have made of it: inkandescent.co.uk/i-am-not-raymo…
