Would they really give the baby to Jane and Ian while Cindy is living with them? Would they completely disregard Cindy's feeling, she's clearly struggling a lot?

I find it ridiculous that Cindy is disregarded and dismissed lie that .The baby is Cindys and no one is listening to her

I don't have any experience with it, but I imagine they'd do exactly what was mentioned and think about what's best for Beth. Cindy's feelings are mostly Psychological and partly to do with Ian's and Jane's laziness in taking her into consideration. They're giving her everything she says she wants, but not giving her what she needs. Some kind of counselling for Cindy and family counselling for the three of them would help the situation.

There is zero percent chance that a social worker in the real world wouldn't have spoken to Cindy alone, and they most certainly wouldn't threaten her and ignore her in the middle of a breakdown where it was pretty clear she was unhappy.

It's a pretty disgusting depiction of social workers, tbh.

I would certainly hope not. I'm finding the way Cindy's feelings are being totally ignored quite troubling - she is barely more than a child herself with nowhere else to go and she is being forced to live with the baby?

It's not even as though it will just be for a couple of years until she leaves home, it will be for the rest of their lives, she'll see Beth at Christmas, family celebrations etc.

She wasn't adopted she was Fostered

I don't think Ian and Jane are going to get Beth. Because of the portrayal of the Social worker so far has not had real life social workers up in arms. So I think they have been kept in the loop of the story arc and are letting it play out.

Who was ?

With Ian's history of mental health difficulties and the abandoment of his family during a period of time, they wouldn't give Beth over so lightly. Did Ian receive medical care after his breakdown? If he did then the social worker would be aware, however if he didn't then they could probably get away with it. I don't know how Lucy would fit into it and Jane/Ian's history. They would delve deep into their histories which would flag up a LOT of discrepencies. I don't think alot of research has gone into the story.

I disagree. She does have somewhere else to go. You have to remember that Ian, Jane and Bobby are of no relation to her. Ian is her mothers ex husband who she tried to murder and divorced before she was born. She should be living with her mother or fathers family. I think Ian has been very kind to let her stay in the first place and I'm not an Ian fan!

Yes. Masood and Zainab persuaded him to go to his doctor and I'm pretty sure he said he was on medication. Either way it would be in his notes.

Also wouldn't that look at how long they have been together as a couple, mere months this time...not exactly a stable relationship.

I couldn't quite remember. So yes, if he was seen by the doctor then the social would be aware and they would surely carry out checks to see if Ian was capable of taking on a baby. As well as him abandoning the family during that period, it would go against him.

Exactly, the relationship wouldn't be seen as a long term committed relationship and it would be noted that Jane moved away leaving Bobby, her adoptive son.

I was shocked at how they wrote the social workers reaction to Cindy's outburst actually. That was not dealt with realistically at all. Cindy is a young adult who is cleary distressed 're Beth yet what she was saying was dismissed.

She was pleading with her aunt to take her , the aunt refused

She doesn't - we heard her on the phone last night to Cindy's sister Gina who was obviously refusing to take her in. Her maternal Grandmother no longer lives in the UK. She has never had any contact with her father's famiy, they abandoned her before birth. Brothers Steven and Peter are in NZ and sister Lucy is of course dead.

Ian and Jane might not be biologically related to her but unless she's going to move abroad they are all she's got. If she doesn't belong with them then nor does Beth.

I'm not sure that Ian's history of mental illness would be too big an obstacle. Yes, they'd look at it but if medical professionals deem him to now be fit then it might not go against him - it is possible to be ill and then recover. We know he's seen a Doctor since then because he was prescribed either sleeping tablets or anti depressants (can't remember which) after Lucy died. In fact I'm not sure being on medication would stop it either as the point of them is that they are making somebody better.

Jane and him only recently being remarried would be a bigger thing I think. Also that she didn't return to look after Bobby when Ian went missing, she was in her right mind after all.

Having had a mental illness wouldn't go against him per se but you would think it would be alluded to on screen and that it would be mentioned during one of the visits. There is many things that happen off screen but I think that this should be included on screen, mainly because his break down did cause him to abandon his family and that is something to be taken seriously.

It's EE. So it's better than any other soap in existence.

There's no way that Cindy would have been ignored and dismissed like that by any decent social worker, no way. Once again EE disgustingly portray social workers as bad or good depending on the narrative they want to pursue, We were meant to see it from Cindy's POV of 'no one is listening to me!' last night and EE cack-handedly made it happen. From the moment that the social worker stepped into the house asking Cindy how her exams were going (or WTTE) then talking right over her when she tried to answer we knew which way the land was lying - that Cindy had a genuine grievance and was correct that no one was listening to what she wanted. Even after Cindy cracked up the social worker's bad attitude continued actually voicing the opinion that Cindy might do something to Beth. Absolutely pathetic portrayal of a social worker totally missing the crux of the matter, that the very young mother wasn't coping and wouldn't be able to cope with her child growing up in the house, she needed a clean break.

In the real world yes Cindy would be listened to if for no other reason than no adoption can happen without her say so but I didn't like the way the social worker was talking about Cindy almost being a danger to the child (utter rot!) and it made me wonder if they're going to attempt make Beth a ward of the court where a judge would make the final decision?


I agree. There's also no way that Ian's mental health wouldn't be taken into consideration and like Vald says Ian and Jane aren't a stable couple who have been together a long time, they've repeatedly split up and got back together. They'd even be able to prove (from police records if nothing else) that Jane came back from Cardiff (or wherever she was) but walked back out taking Bobby with days after Lucy was murdered and didn't stay to support Ian! Hardly the sign of a rock solid couple even if they are married again now.

I doubt very much that Ian and Jane would get Beth in the real world without Cindy's approval (or they'd more likely start as foster parents leading to adoption). But like I say I'm a bit concerned now (or would be if it was real lol!) that they're going to try and portray Cindy as unstable now and take it out of her hands.



It looked like Cindy was on the phone to her Aunt last night desperately wanted to go back but her Aunt refused to let her so at the moment Cindy really has nowhere else to go. I agree it was good of Ian to take her in but I think he did so as she is his children's half-sister and can hardly chuck her out again now - especially with what she knows!

But yes that social worker did my head in again when she mentioned Ian and Jane being Beth's 'family' - they don't share a drop of blood! Cindy is Ian's ward, she's his children's (Bobby aside) relative but not actually his or Jane's! I don't mean any disrespect to adoptive families or reconstituted step-families etc saying that, just that the social worker was talking as if Jane or Ian were a biological relative to Cindy and perhaps had a legitimate claim (emotionally if not lawfully) to Beth!

Not that I have any experience in this sort of thing, but they would have to look into the Beale's history - which is bleak at best.

Ian has a history of mental health issues and recently lost a daughter in the most tragic way possible.

Ian's son, Steven, has mental health issues too insofar as he stabbed his step-mother, Jane. I know he's not there at the moment, but potentially, he could return at any moment and could be a risk to a baby in the house - in the eyes of the Social Services.

Ian's half-brother, Ben, is a convicted murderer and lives just a few doors away. One look as to who Ben's father is would scare the Social Services stiff.

Ian's daughter, Lucy, was murdered a year ago. Granted, this is a tragedy and can't be taken into account as the family's fault (unless you know what actually happened!) but Jane and Ian would be grieving her loss and, again in the eyes of the Social Services, Beth might be seen as a replacement to them? Unhealthy for the child?

Yes, true - it should be mentioned. It would only take one line - something like "we've consulted you GP and he reports you completed your Counselling and have been well for 2 years (approx) so that isn't an issue". Even if not realistic, it would have been addressed on screen.

Jane's shooting wasn't reported was it? Or at least it must have been reported as she was hospitalized but they never said what had happened. However Steven was institutionalized for several weeks which will be on record and didn't he also try and kill Pat? Though again I'm not sure if that was reported.

Phil was deemed suitable to look after Lexi so apparently (amazingly) Social Services have deemed him fit.

You'd think Ben would send out alarm bells though. Also, yes, Lucy having died so recently should be an issue. As I understand it, they advise people that have suffered miscarriage to wait before applying to be adoptive parents precisely because the child should be wanted for themselves, not as any kind of replacement. It's not healthy for anybody involved.

There is also Bobby having run away last year, Lucy having been taking drugs before she died and all the other things mentioned by others.

After all the negative comments they got regarding Lola's Social Worker you would think they'd do the opposite this time to show that not all Social Workers are terrible people (or completely useless at their job!).

The social worker is as said there at Cindy,s instigation because she wants Beth adopted out. If the social worker thinks that Cindy may be a danger to Beth then she should remove Beth from the household because she can't remove Cindy. Would Ian and Jane then throw Cindy out to get Beth? In a heartbeat. then they would have a stroppy teenager on their hands.

They simply can't chuck Cindy out - she knows far too much and could bring a sh!tstorm down on them. They're stuck with her as long as she wants to be there so if Beth was taken out of the Beale house (which is for the best anyway IMO) watching the interaction between Ian/Jane and Cindy would be VERY interesting as they'd obviously hugely resent her but her knowledge of what Bobby did and the fact that they've covered up for him means their hands are tied. Keeping Beth has to be secondary to keeping their awful secret and I believe they'd sacrifice her to make sure it didn't get out.

Re my post above - shows what I know

Haven't seen tonight's episode yet but I hear Ian turfs Cindy out? Brave man! A big part of me wishes she'd go straight round to the police station! (but like I say I haven't seen it yet so don't know the context).