Great post.

You can see it from both sides to be honest. Both parties want what's best for Beth. It's just that Ian and Jane think Beth is a chance to get it right, while Cindy thinks Beth will be another Beale Balls-up.

I hate ian and jane now, but bobby hes real messed up its only so long until he flips out again.

BIB But that is so selfish. If the authorities knew the truth about what has been happening in that house they wouldn't stand a chance of being able to adopt. It's one thing lying to protect Bobby, but quite another to lie to show Cindy in a bad light and get their hands on her baby. Cindy wants nothing more than for her child to go to a good, loving home....and that's not the Beales.

Exactly.
Hate Ian and Jane, hate this storyline. Bobby is utterly tedious as well. I don't love Cindy but she and Beth are the only ones I have any sympathy for in this scenario.

I think if Ian and Jane leave Beth to be adopted, they might fear they are already messing her life up and I think they would prefer to make sure she doesn't become Beale Balls-up No 6 by actively taking control and being present in her life.

That would be sheer arrogance. What makes them think they won't mess up yet again.

They may as well have Shirley adopt Roya ? because she messed up with her first few kids.

Good post.

Maybe the fact that they've gotten it so horribly wrong - as bad as it goes? I mean surely they can't do much worse to Beth?

The best scenario is for Beth to be adopted out to a family who live elsewhere. Cindy has made it clear she doesn't want her so it's not fair on her to have to live with Beth watching her be brought up by Ian and Jane. Also it's not really fair on Ian and Jane either who will throw themselves into being Beth parents only for some point down the line for Cindy to decide she wants Beth back. Cindy should either keep her and raise her herself or have her adopted by strangers.

Personally I'd rather see Beth go off with an adopted family giving Cindy a baby was a huge mistake and has ruined her character. We've already got Lola as the struggling teenage single mum we don't need another one.

I'm not sure I'm understanding the motivations here. Cindy comes to Walford to be near two of her siblings, they are now gone, so on the face of it why stay? I can see that London could be more exciting than Devon. She has a baby and can't cope with it and the secret. Which as has been, said she has no confidante to talk to about it. She decides to give the baby up to give it a better life away from the toxic household she's in. Then the last people she wants to have it are hell bent on getting it.

The social worker is worried that Cindy appears to be the greater risk to the baby than Ian and Jane. Is she seriously still considering letting the Beales have it? Also whilst still in the house with the birth mother? Are there no better candidates elsewhere on their list? The Beales have absolutely no blood ties to the mother or baby at all, so to my mind more doubts. Are they still viable candidates? They're older parents they have two children on the other side of the world, one has been murdered and the other is approaching adolescence. Why do they want a baby? Ian is appeasing Jane, Jane should appear to the SW as being needy and desperate, Is that acceptable as an adopter? None of this seems to be in the best interests of the child.

I know this is a bit disjointed, but like I said I'm struggling with this.

Seriously. I cannot believe people defending Ian & Jane in this scenario.

As Cindy could play the 'Bobby' card equally Ian could just kick Cindy out. Peter is gone, Ian is not related to Cindy, he does not have to let her stay. A fact Cindy has continually ignored throughout her whole time at the Beales.

Of course he can. But that doesn't mean he should be lying to get his hands on her child when she would prefer her to go to a good home.

Social services should have Beth,s best interests in mind. On the face of it Ian and Jane seem a stable family unit (if only they knew) to grant custody to. But Cindy is also technically a child too and they need to consider her as well. Would it be advisable to place them both in the same household, given the SW,s concern over Cindy,s state of mind?

My own thoughts on this are in favour of the natural mother putting the child up for adoption through the usual channels.

I've had friends who have jumped through innumerable hoops in their attempts to adopt a child, and if there's the slightest chink in the armour the agencies will mark you down.

In the Beales' case there can be little doubt that a real life agency would deem Jane and Ian totally unsuitable adoptive parents for any number of reasons that are plain to all of us who watch this programme regularly. I just hope the writers see sense and provide us with a realistic solution to the problem .. Beth should go to another family, miles away from Walford.

Unfortunately EastEnders always portray Social Workers as incompetent fools. I don't understand why Cindy isn't being given a private interview for a start. Then there is Ian with a history of depression and abandoning his children, Jane's history of abandoning them, and the unsolved murder of one of their children.

I don't think anyone is defending Ian and Jane, what they have done is absolutely and categorically wrong, however as they are fictional characters and this is a complicated storyline, I think it's easy to see things from their perspective.