A COUNCIL has defended its decision to keep two Hampshire children in foster care for months rather than living with their aunt because social services feared they could not adapt to Yorkshire culture.

The boy and girl were removed from their parents by Hampshire County Council but their aunt, who had moved 200 miles away to West Yorkshire several years ago, applied to be their guardian.

The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said she was “stunned” to be told the children could not live with her because they “couldn’t adapt to the change in area and culture” and their southern accents could see them isolated.

After a nine-month legal battle started last August, she was finally awarded custody.

The aunt, who lives in the Kirklees district, where the major town is Huddersfield, said: “The children were in foster care for several months. They needed to be with their family at such a difficult time for them.

“I put myself forward as a carer. I work. I have a loving family close by. I thought that together we could show them what a real family life was like.

"Despite this the county council’s social worker decided the children had “grown up in the southern region and couldn’t adapt to the change in area and culture”.

A county council spokesman said other factors would have been considered, such as moving schools and distance from other family members.

In a statement the council said: “We would never let trivial considerations get in the way of securing the best placement for the children.

“We are pleased the children were placed with their aunt.

“Wherever possible, if children in care are unable to live with their parents, we try to find placements within the extended family.

“An independent social worker, not one from Hampshire County Council, carried out an assessment regarding the placement of the children with their aunt but we felt it was incomplete.

“A second one was commissioned and on its completion we supported the placement with the aunt which the court ordered.”