FII, GOSH & the Royal College
The Sunday Times and its Special Correspondent Emily Dugan, have to their great credit, persevered with the investigation into wrongful allegations of Fabricated or Induced Illness (FII).
The article was published in the paper edition of the Sunday Times on 12 October 2025 and the on-line title is entitled ‘Great Ormond Street trust kept me from my baby. Then police came’. The story carried the strap line ‘Eight months after a couple were accused of a rare form of abuse and attempted murder, no charges have been laid. The mother tells of their ‘absolute hell’ and can be accessed by clicking here.[1]
Sadly, for many families and researchers familiar with the nature of FII accusations, the traumatic experiences of the family at the heart of this story are all too familiar: of experiencing unfounded allegations; of experiencing the most profound intrusions into their private and family lives by the all-powerful apparatus of the ‘state’; of living with the unimaginable dread of losing their child forever; of having no ‘closure’ – no apology, no acceptance by the state that a terrible mistake has been made; no acknowledgment of the irreparable harm that has been caused to the family and the child; no erasure of the false medical and social care records – nothing – no accountability.
In order to publish the article the Sunday Times had to obtain a High Court Order enabling it to report on the family court case of Baby X and to name Great Ormond Street Hospital Trust as responsible for the child’s care. The article notes that the Trust has flagged 43 patients as having potential signs of FII on its database and that ‘formal safeguarding referrals made at Great Ormond Street rose by 93 per cent last year’ and that in the first six months of this year (2025) the hospital made 152 safeguarding referrals for its patients, more than in all of 2023.
A coalition of families, charities and researchers are calling for FII guidance to be withdrawn – click here for details of the campaign.
For a paper by Professor Andy Bilson and Taliah Drayak ‘‘Why fabricated or induced illness needs to be dropped as a child protection category’’ in Community Care (13 October 2025) click here.
[1] It is possible to subscribe for 3 months for £1 and before the expiry period to unsubscribe
Posted 6 November 2025