INVICTA: A woman’s fight to regain custody of her children

by Kate Abbott

Clara’s relationship’s failing her and what’s worse they’re children in the mix. Fortunately, though, in her next relationship with a man called Saul, she manages to create a thriving property business and things are looking up, until, after an argument, her first partner stabs her current husband, ending up in prison for several months. A few years later however, her marriage is also on the rocks, as following the property crash of 2008, the business takes a beating. Clara becomes depressed, Saul cannot cope and thus departs.
However, Clara is made of stern stuff. She picks herself up and starts to rebuild her business. Saul is not too happy about this; he’d expected her to crumble. He badmouths her to their community, telling them that she’s mad and an unfit mother. Then in 2013, on, Rick, her older sons’ 21st birthday, Saul makes an accusation to the Police that his stepson has molested his younger daughter Sukie. Initially there’s no action, but in a bizarre twist of fate, a social worker, who later visits Saul to check on his cocaine habit, is derailed in her task, by a conversation with Sara, their older daughter, who’s egged on by Saul to slag off her mother, resulting in a child protection hearing.
Clara is horrified and beside herself with worry. The social worker mines the childrens’ “alternative school” for incriminating information, most of it historic, pertaining to when she was depressed, but none-the-less her children are placed on child protection. And when Sukie walks into school one day, moaning that Rick has hugged her too tight (he’d baby sat her the night before) even though there is no finding of any sexual misappropriation, the girls are removed from Clara and given to their father, who’s soon evidenced as a high user of cocaine.
The girls are distraught and it becomes apparent very quickly that Saul and Janey are not ideal parents. However, the services are not keen on u turns and ensure that all of Caro’s contact with her daughters is supervised, until they get the win they want in court, which is for Saul to have sole custody and Clara every other weekend contact. They try to remove all connection between Rick and his sisters, but a Judge over rules this and allows Clara to supervise their contact herself.
Clara leaves her community and heads back to London, to stay with her parents. She knows that Saul will be unable to parent their children and that they will most likely go into care, unless she can reinvent herself, reclaim her sovereignty and take back her children. But will she manage this and if she does win back custody of her daughters, will they have changed beyond all recognition?

319 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 20, 2024