Market Town : Heidi & Ed : The fight for our children

[J A Mortram]

"I had a miscarriage at 15 and then I had Danielle at 17 so I was really young. I was with Danielle's father and there was lots of violence in the relationship, drink, drugs so that was the reason behind me leaving him.

Ed said I could leave and live with him if I wanted so I packed our things and we left and we went to Ed's Mum's and we were there for a few months.

I never stopped Danielle's father from seeing her, I'd take her to the park so he could have contact and he ended up kidnapping her. He pushed me over, grabbed the buggy and this is where all the dealings with the courts began.

Danielle's father lived in a block of flats. You needed to be buzzed to get in so there was no way I could gain access to get her back. I had to call the Police and I was told there was nothing they could do as he was Danielle's biological Father. Then I had to get a Solicitor. Social Services became involved and Danielle was placed into Care. Danielle's father had in the meantime made a lot of false accusations about me. Unfortunately though unproven they were apparently taken seriously by Social Services though I'd done nothing wrong, nothing wrong.

Whilst Danielle's father had taken her there were complaints from his neighbors saying they thought he was mistreating her and that's why she was taken and placed into Care. I'd been told that once she had been removed from him Danielle would come home to me but she wasn't she was taken directly into Care for two and a half years. Danielle was just three months old."

Full story : http://jamortram.posterous.com/market-town-family

















Thanks for looking!

[DigiDiva]

Great set of images once again....the fourth is my favourite

[J A Mortram]

Thanks.

[ABERS]

I'm sure the characters in your photo essays are happy to have their unfortunate lives broadcast to the world in general, but it begs the question why?

What do the participants derive from this intrusive exposure?

Or is it to satisfy your desire to emulate McCullin's early work of down and outs in the east end of London or to portray youself as a latter day spokesman of the afflicted, bewildered and delinquents of Norfolk?

[J A Mortram]

Abers, the best answer to your views may come from a post just left on my Facebook page by one member of the family in the above story.

"I'm getting tons of feedback (positive) from that article you wrote, brilliant! ... "

Maybe you view the people that appear in the stories I work on as afflicted, bewildered and delinquent, I however see them as fellow human beings.

The above story for example focusses on how skewered the Social Services can be in their handling of cases. All my stories have a core issue to address. The images are not about me, they are about the people within them.

RE McCullin, I'm not a fan of his early work in any way. Had you mentioned Eugene Richards or Brenda Ann Kenneally then we'd be able to have a conversation about photography.

More often than not, now, I have people requesting I shoot their story. Unlike others I do not PAY for the opportunity to shoot, I shoot long form and have a huge amount of trust with all the people I work with.

I also sacrifice everything to do this... and that is my pleasure.

Lastly, what do the people in the photos derive from the experience?... certainly, in every case an idea of what it is to have someone listen, take notice, not judge nor stereotype their situation and circumstances. Such crass judgements are something that happen too frequently in our world these days.

[DigiDiva]

Well said......

[ABERS]

Silly me! I must apologise.

There I was thinking you were exploiting these people for your own photographic ends, or why else would you be posting their images on a photographic web site rather than a site dedicated to social and health problems?

And it was just a bad case of altruism all the time!

It’s a good job that the real helpers, the social workers, the health visitors, the district nurses, the occupational therapists value client confidentiality and just get on with their jobs without broadcasting their clients/patients problems for all to see. Still, they are the professionals.

[J A Mortram]

I work as a Carer Abers, have done for 14 years.

I quit Art school and a job to be a Carer. I am a Carer for my Mother. These photographs have nothing to do with my being a voluntary Carer within my own family home.

I shoot these stories in my own time. These are people in my local community that I meet or get in touch as they want to share, or talk & relay and relate an account of their life.

Have you even been to the Small Town Inertia site and READ the stories?

Is your argument that people, if they have a tough situation should not be allowed to have it documented? or that their right to share their story be censored?.

Why post images like this on a photographic site? Some people view photography as an act of documenting reality. This is a Documentary thread.

Sarcasms always going to be the lowest form of wit Abers and I don't do 'trolls'. I'm all for a good discussion on photography or anything else. Communicating and the ability to do so is an amazing thing.

[cosmicma]

is the child in the photo still under the care of the social services or still on the child protection list ??

if the answer is yes i would be checking if your are allowed to post photo's of the child on a public forum you might find you are treading on thin ice and i mean this with the best intentions things can become very grey once the social services get involved

as for the story line it sounds very heavy handed the police should have handed the child straight back to the mother considering the father had abandoned the family home ( as it's known )
the social services taking the child to a place of safety ( foster care ) and not back to the mother suggests you are not being told the whole story

as for the photo's i am not sure
i keep looking at them and i wonder if the child is the same one as the story or is it tylor ?
technically there good the composition and lighting are good but i am undecided on the content

[J A Mortram]

I always make every check before a story is shared. 2 years of waiting and planning to share this story & begin the series with Heidi, Ed & Tyler. Yes, it's Tyler depicted in the story.

RE content, I appreciate your view. Obviously for me I feel it's important for this side of a story to be shared.

RE the whole story, from my research everything that I have been presented as truth, holds up as being so. More importantly from my point of view, I've watched a troubled young couple totally transform their lives and selves to fight to get their child back and for me that can only be a wonderful event and one to be positive about and share.