hello, it's tuesday, it's 9am. i'm victoria derbyshire, welcome to the programme. this morning, when adoptions break down. families who've had to make the heart—breaking decision to hand back a child tell us why. he was violent towards my wife. she got kicked, thumped, things like that, quite a lot. and quite a lot of emotional abuse to her as well. yeah, and this is from a four, five—year—old kid. we were just shell—shocked, really. and we'll hear from other parents who say they're struggling to cope. if you've adopted a child and you're experiencing problems, do get in touch this morning. if you have got over problems, tell us if you have got over problems, tell us how you did it. plus, this baby chimp has been rescued after traffickers tried to sell it as a pet. its parents had been deliberately killed when it was seized from the wild. we'll bring you the full

story before 10am. it isa it is a must watch. and, a legal battle over the rights of parents to take their children out of school for holidays during term time reaches the highest court in the land today. we'll speak to the father at the centre of the case. hello, welcome to the programme. we're live until 11am. throughout the morning we'll bring you the latest breaking news and developing stories. and as always, really keen to hear from you. after 10am we'll be hearing how a primary school in bournemouth has started allowing pupils to wear their comfy slippers in class, after research found it helps them to get better grades

and generally improve their performance. if you work from home, you might already know that's the case. do get in touch with your views. use the hashtag #victorialive. if you text, you will be charged at the standard network rate. our top story today. donald trump has sacked the united states‘ top legal advisor after she questioned the legality of his travel ban. acting attorney—general sally yates, who'd been appointed by barack obama, said she couldn't defend the decision to stop refugees and citizens of seven muslim countries from entering america. donald trump's controversial travel ban is facing resistance on a variety of fronts. after a weekend of mass protests, chaos at airports and a diplomatic outcry came an unusual act of defiance on the part of america's top law officer. sally yates, appointed us attorney general by barack obama, said in a letter to lawyers

at the justice department that given her responsibility to ensure that the government stands for what is right... deeming that an act of betrayal, mr trump promptly sacked her, installing dana boente as the new attorney general. pending the swearing—in of mr trump's preferred candidate, alabama senator jeff sessions, whose confirmation has been delayed by democrats in congress. sally yates is not alone in her misgivings, though. barack obama said in a statement that he fundamentally disagreed with the notion of discriminating against individuals on the basis of faith or religion. us diplomats have also registered their concerns, leading to this tongue lashing from the white house. if these career bureaucrats have a problem with it, i think that they should either get

with the programme, or they can go. later today, mr trump is due to announce his pick for a place on the us supreme court. the choice, he said, was one that would appeal to evangelical christians. he may also be hoping it leads to some better headlines. our correspondent richard lister is here. what is the significance of the attorney—general role? it isa it is a big deal. the attorney general is one of the top four cabinet positions, they are seen as one of the guardians of the constitution. although they are appointed by the president, their first duty is to protect the constitution, and it is up to that person to defend government laws at the supreme court, should they face challenges. we know that the president's executive order on immigration has been challenged by various courts, and it is likely it will end up in the supreme court.

sally yates could have resigned quietly, she knows she will not stay, the president already has another attorney general lined up, he is going to the procedure. she knew she would not be able to stay, she decided to make a fuss and say, i don't believe this order is lawful, i don't believe government lawyers should defend it, and i will not defend it. joanna is in the bbc newsroom with a summary of the rest of the day's news. a french—canadian student has appeared in court in quebec, charged with the murder of six muslim worshippers who were shot dead at a mosque on sunday. alexandre bissonnette, who's 27, did not speak during his court appearance. he faces six counts of murder and five of attempted murder. vigils have been held across canada in memory of those killed and injured. the prospect of the uk leaving the european union will move a step closer today when mps begin debating the bill that will give theresa may the authority to trigger article 50. the government was forced to draw up the legislation after being overruled in the supreme court.

some labour mps and the snp have said they'll vote against the measure. adoption organisations have told this programme that a cap on funding for specialist therapy could lead to a rise in the number of placements breaking down. the adoption support fund, which provides financial help for therapy, was cut last october to £5,000 per child. agencies are concerned that without sufficient funds to help children from disadvantaged backgrounds, families will not be able to cope. and later in this programme, we'll be hearing from families about their experience of adoption, and from some who've had to make the difficult decision to hand back their children. a network of wildlife traffickers selling baby chimpanzees as pets has been exposed by a year—long bbc news investigation. the research uncovered a notorious west african hub for wildlife trafficking, and led to the rescue of a one—year—old chimp. the animals are seized from the wild and sold through corrupt officials and middlemen for about £10,000 each. a legal battle over the rights

of parents to take their children out of school for term—time holidays reaches the supreme court today. the case will have ramifications for families across england. isle of wight businessmanjohn platt says dozens of parents get in touch with him every day about term—time holiday finds. he decided to fight it all the way and says he has no regrets after taking his daughter to disneyland when she had 90% attendance at school. the legal row is about what going to school regularly means. i believe it meant attending school frequently or very often but their position is it means every day. that is the most—draconian interpretation of this legislation you could possibly have. councils from the isle of wight to the north of england have different policies.

some issue thousands of fines. 0thers almost none. the rules say if a head declares an absence unauthorised the local council can find each parent £60 per child. that fine can double if it's not paid within 21 days. ministers say exam results shape children's futures and missing even a few days can make a clear difference. many head teachers agree. it's important because young people only get one chance at their education and one week, two weeks out of that can make an enormous difference in the progress they're able to make in any given year and overall in terms of their education. 35 councils have told the bbc they've revised their guidance since mr platt took his case to court. the outcome could have a big impact. the supreme court will make a decision within months. scientists say they may have found the oldest human ancestor, a microscopic sea creature, with a bag—like body and a big mouth.

they've been studying fossilised traces of the 540—million—year—old creature in china. the sea animal is the earliest—known step on the evolutionary path that led to fish and, eventually, to humans. peter capaldi has announced his plans to hang up his sonic screwdriver and step down from doctor who. he will leave the tardis for the last time during this year's christmas special, saying he feels it's time to move on. we need to get back. back where? to the future. 2017 needs us. leaving us in need of a new time lord. peter capaldi will hand over the sonic screwdriver at the end of this year's series. he shocked fans with last night's announcement on live radio. i've always been somebody that did a lot of different things, i've never done onejob for three years. this is the first time i've done this. and i feel it's sort of time for me to move on to different challenges. and it means a familiar

challenge for the show. now in its 54th year, with millions of fans, young and old, around the world. of course, some things never change. a dalek. what's a dalek? never mind, it's a dalek. regular regeneration has become the hallmark of a time traveller used to riding his luck. the new doctor who will be number 13. the question, as ever, is, who? that's a summary of the latest bbc news. more at 9:30am. many messages from you on adoption, we will explore in detail the reasons why we will explore in detail the reasons why some we will explore in detail the reasons why some adoptions breakdown, completely unaware there

are so many positive examples, and i note you will give us some. 0ne person says, many traumatised adopted teams end up involved in the criminal justice system. adopted teams end up involved in the criminaljustice system. jamie says, you are the only people focusing on this, we need to ask why the care system this, we need to ask why the care syste m d oes this, we need to ask why the care system does not help. hannah says, all i see negative stories, it would be great to see a successful adoption story. i was brought up by the best adoptive parents i could have wished for. do get in touch with us throughout the morning, use the hashtag #victorialive. if you text, you will be charged at the standard network rate. let's get some sport now, and john watson is at the bbc sport centre for us this morning. we'll start with the fa cup draw, and what a game in store for non—league sutton united. two non—league sides through for the first time, and they have been rewarded with some fast it games in the fifth round. this was the moment sun united realised they were

playing the 12th time winners arsenal. fantastic scenes of the draw was made. arsenal and their superstars will be making the trip to sultan, the capacity there is just 5000. they play on an artificial pitch. this was them knocking out leeds united at the weekend. their capacity 55,000 less than arsenal. it is an incredible draw and a special moment for them, as it is for lincoln city, the other non—league side in the draw. they knocked out right in at the weekend, they will play against burnley. this was their victory at the weekend over brighton, 3—1. they have been rewarded with that much against burnley. wolverhampton north east out liverpool at the weekend, and a credible result. they have been rewarded with a much at molineux against the premier league table

toppers chelsea. some great matches, you can see the draw in full on the bbc sport website. it's transfer deadline day today. can we expect a lot more business from what we have already seen this month? plenty, we should see records surpassed again, it was 225 million in this window in 2011, we are expecting to see that surpassed, we are at 150 million already. the biggest deal is not a purchase by a premier league club, it is dimitri payet moving to marseille for 25 million, that is the biggest so far. saido berahino left west brom for stoke city 1a million, morgan schneiderlin moved to everton for 2h million, and with the transfer window closing at 11pm, we can expect more moves coming. you can follow it all on social media. and

there is a special programme on bbc radio five live, mark chapman following all of the moves as they happen until 11pm. following all of the moves as they happen until11pm. my boys are wondering what to do with their dimitri payet west ham shirt is now! expensive times! it is 50 quid, unbelievable! finally, john, there may be a few angry runners who ran the great scottish run last year? they were 150 metres short of the exact instance, the 13.1 miles required. everybody who competed, anybody who completed a personal best, all of those records have been wiped because they are 150 metres short. they went out on sunday after concerns that the distance was not quite right, and that proved to be the case, the course was 150 metres short, so they will be disgruntled, because they have to go back to

training if they want to try to meet that achievement again. the organisers, what were they doing? have you ever heard of anything like this? ican have you ever heard of anything like this? i can imagine somebody is getting told off. this morning, are adoptive parents being failed? failed because they're not given the full picture of the trauma and damage their child has already experienced, failed because there isn't enough support when things go wrong, and failed because schools can't always cope with children who have problems. throughout the programme today, we'll hear from families who've adopted and are struggling, and some who've had to make the agonising decision to hand back their child. adoption uk estimate around a quarter of adoptive families are "in crisis" and finding it hard to keep their family together. a generation or so ago most children who were adopted were those born outside of marriage or to teenage mums, whereas now it's more likely they'll have been born to a mum addicted to drugs or alcohol, or will have witnessed

domestic violence or trauma. those early formative few months and years can have a huge impact on the child as they grow up, causing untold problems. now, an adoption support fund which was meant to help pay for intensive and expensive therapy has been capped. 0ur reporter lesley ashmal has been looking what happens when adoptions break down. i'd always wanted to adopt children, even if i'd had my own. you just feel that it's been made that much harder, a, by the training you have to go through to be adoptive parents and then, you know, to the point that you don't get the help and support that you should have. it felt like failure, it felt like letting this kid down. and how can you do this to your own son, that you really love? it was a heartbreaking decision. it's hard to imagine what it

must be like to give back a longed—for child. parents could have fought for years for them. to become an adoptive parent you have undergone rigorous tests, assessments, inquisitions, almost. but often the real challenge begins when the match is approved. adoption breakdown — or disruption, as it's sometimes called — happens when a child either goes back into care or leaves the family home. 0ne adoption charity thinks as many as a quarter of all families are in crisis, needing help to keep their relationships together. but they are often struggling to get the help they need. rob, which isn't his real name, and his wife have children of their own, but they adopted three siblings. the reports warned the eldest had problems but nothing prepared

them for the reality. he was violent towards my wife. she got kicked, thumped, things like that, quite a lot. and quite a lot of emotional abuse to her as well. yeah, and this is from a four, five—year—old kid. and we werejust shell—shocked, really. what was the trauma like on you and your wife? well, my wife really shows the sort of symptoms you'd expect from someone who's suffered domestic abuse at times. and... i mean, it's clear that it's still so raw. yeah, it is. yeah.

i ended up with quite serious depression. i almost got sacked because i was taking a lot of time off work with, you know, just dealing with the stress of it. and, yeah, very close to a breakdown, i think. he just became untenable, which was why we finally had to ask the local authority to step in and move him back into foster care. for us, you know, it felt like failure, it felt like letting this kid down. and how can you do this to your own son, that you really love? it was, you know, a heartbreaking decision. his adoptive son had lived with them for nine years. it's not known how many adoptions break down,

no national records are kept, but the estimated figure varies from just over 3.2% to, according to one charity, nearly 9%. it's known that children who are adopted when they are older than four are 13 times more likely to struggle in a new family. professorjulie selwyn has written the definitive research into adoption disruption. it's whether they want to be adopted, if they are older, and how long they've been exposed to adversity in their life. i suppose what they've learned is that adults aren't very caring, that adults can't meet their needs, and they find it's difficult to trust their new parents. liz, which isn't her real name, adopted two sisters. the eldest was nine and never really settled into a new family. the lashing out, the anger.

the anger was just off the scale sometimes. it was physical, it became physical, initially it was verbal abuse. it was just a whole catalogue of notjust bad behaviour, and i appreciate what you have to try to do as an adoptive parent is try and sort of differentiate what is normal teenager behaviour and what is a result of where they've come from. it affects every aspect of your life, it's notjust within your little unit, it's beyond that. it can be work, the effects on your work. i lost my business, had to give up my business because the stress and the strain was just unreal. and, in a way, you sort of feel a bit of bitterness. not towards the daughter, but because of the whole setup and the system. this is when the older daughter,

when she first came, and we felt it was important to keep, as they changed through the year, as they'd grown up. are you optimistic that maybe in several years' time things will resolve itself, maybe there'll be more pictures here? well, we hope so. i mean, we've already got a grandchild. we haven't got that yet because we need to get... we're going to get a nice professional photograph done, so that can be part of the family photos. liz's daughter is now 18 and a mother herself. she still calls her adoptive parents mum and dad, but admits she struggled. it was difficult because it was a change, do you know what i mean, and was a change that i'd never had before, especially when you're nine years old. so it was different, and that's what made it difficult, because you're not used to it. you don't know what's...

you know, you don't know what to expect, really, you just kind of... because you're still a child, you're still, you know... it was just strange on the parent side, because you've got new parents, and that's a weird feeling, like. what went wrong? because things did go wrong, didn't they? yeah. it was mainly my adoptive mum. my adoptive daddy works a lot and my little sister, she was in nursery and primary school. so when it was just... we clashed a bit because i didn't really let go of what i do rememberasa child, my first six years with my biological family. and, obviously, for her that was hard, for me not to accept this family. that's where we clashed. that was, you know, that was the main reason why we did clash. so... do you think you were badly behaved sometimes? obviously i was, most children are, you know, at times. i wouldn't say i was a nightmare. she might have thought i was a nightmare sometimes, do you know what i mean? the children that i see around me, i see now as an adult

and a mum myself, like... i don't think... do you know what i mean, i wasn't awful, i didn't go round burning buildings or nothing like that, you know what i'm saying, i wasjust... i was a bit cheeky at times. there are about 87,000 children in care in the uk. those who've no chance of returning to their birth families can be put up for adoption. every year, about 5500 a re successfully placed. they've usually been abused, neglected. and a whole range of abuse, from physical abuse, sexual abuse, massive neglect. often their mums have misused alcohol or drugs during pregnancy so that they are born withdrawing from drugs at the time of their birth. and that's obviously going to have an impact on their relationship with their new adoptive parents?

absolutely. professor selwyn says specialist therapy is needed for youngsters who have been in care. so how do you think this story is going to end? and how do you think it's going to end? catchpoint is such a place, helping both children and parents adjust. we start from the point of view of working with the parents and the children together. we want to have an attachment to focus. we don't want the children to form an attachment to the therapist, we want them to form an attachment to their parents. and the parents are key. so what we set up at catchpoint is we're supporting the parents as well as including them in the therapy. i think without the therapy i personally would be completely lost at sea.

i would be, i think, forced to look at and use other parenting techniques which arejust completely unsuitable. and will quite possibly make things worse. the trouble is specialist therapy like this is expensive. england has the adoption support fund. in its first year it helped 3500 families, with a budget of £90 million. but demand has been so high the fund's now been capped at £5,000 per child. these parents wrote to us about their fears. we've two adopted children who were traumatised. and the adoption support fund has

been a lifeline to us. without the therapy it's paid for, our family would no longer be together. the therapy has actually given us hope, but we're only starting to scratch the surface and the funding cap has already been reached. therapy may be about to stop. our two adopted children have been diagnosed with post—traumatic stress disorder. a therapy plan was put together, but in november we were told about the new funding cap and it may not even cover the cost of the initial assessment. the therapy for our children will cost about £30,000. we are devastated. if they don't get help now, it could be too late. many interventions for these children need a lot more than just one off therapy. these are... this is therapy that needs to be ongoing and will cost a lot more than £5000. it's not enough, no. it's nowhere near enough. particularly for these children, who've got very entrenched and difficult needs. the government stresses it is committed to helping

vulnerable children and their adoptive parents. they declined to be interviewed but issued this statement, "we want more families to benefit from the adoption support fund, which is why we're looking at how we can distribute it more fairly and improve value for money. we plan to increase the fund's budget every year of this parliament. everyone says adoptions are far, far betterfor children than remaining in care, and most adoptions are successful. those who've suffered simply want a more help for people like them. the pain of adoption breakdown is so vivid in this letter rob wrote to his young son who was returned to care. it was too painful for him to read himself, so his words are spoken for him. we've changed all the names. i love you. i really want you to know that, as i'd guess that sometimes it's

hard for you to feel that it's true. i want you to know that i'm there, fighting for you as hard as i can. i don't know how much you remember of your early days with us. i remember that you didn't want me in your life at all. i remember the first time that you ever let me hug you. you'd been with us for over seven months and not let me hug you. i remember that so clearly, because i love you, kid. we had such hopes of what we could give, and the difference we could make. and it's... the saddest bit for me is that we gave everything that we had, but the people that we thought were going to be backing us up and giving the bits that we couldn't, just weren't there. if you've adopted a child, do get in touch with your experience.

positive or otherwise. particularly if you had problems what was it that helped overcome those problems? it is clearly, as we saw from the film, really, really hard adopting a child from a damaged background. if a child is taken from their birth family then more often than not it is because there are some damaging circumstances in which they're being brought up. after 10am we will look at the cut to the 0i doption support fund and what impact it could have on families in need. if you want to read more about it, there's a bbc news article on the main bbc site. chris akabusi has got in touch, he was brought up in care, he says... this tweet says, it is modern

adoption, the young person... it says, we kept strong as a couple and remained firm with the system. we are now happy to have our amazing son. to get in touch in the usual ways, we will feed your pertinent experiences into the conversation after 10am. still to come. this baby chimp has been rescued after traffickers tried to sell it as a pet. we'll bring you full details of our investigation into the illegal trade in baby chimpanzees. that film is amazing, in the next

few minutes. asylum seekers are being housed in dirty, rat—infested homes in the uk, conditions which have been described as "disgraceful" by mps. we'll be talking to the chair of the committee looking into the issue. here'sjoanna in the bbc newsroom with a summary of today's news. president trump has fired the acting us attorney general, saying she had betrayed her department by refusing to enforce his travel ban for seven mainly muslim countries. sally yates had told her lawyers not defend the executive order he signed on friday, as it might not be legal. ms yates had been appointed by president obama. mr trump said his opponents in the democratic party were trying to obstruct him. meanwhile, a former head of the foreign office has accused theresa may of putting the queen in "a very difficult position" by inviting president trump to make a state visit to the uk. lord ricketts said it should be downgraded to an official visit to spare the queen more controversy. thousands of people joined

anti—trump protests in london and around the uk yesterday. a petition calling for his trip to be cancelled has gathered more than 1.5 million signatures. a french—canadian student has appeared in court in quebec, charged with the murder of six muslim worshippers who were shot dead at a mosque on sunday. alexandre bissonnette, who's 27, did not speak during his court appearance. he faces six counts of murder and five of attempted murder. vigils have been held across canada in memory of those killed and injured. mps will today hold their first debate on the government's bill to trigger the formal process of leaving the eu. the labour leaderjeremy corbyn has given his party strict orders to support the measure, but some labour mps have said they willjoin the snp in voting against it. a legal battle over the rights of parents to take their children on term—time holidays reaches the supreme court today. five judges will hear an appeal by isle of wight council, which fined a father, jon platt, for taking his daughter

to florida without her school's permission. mr platt challenged his fine in the high court and won. we will hear from him we will hearfrom him and other pa rents we will hearfrom him and other parents and teachers affected at around 10:30am. peter capaldi is stepping down from the role of the doctor in doctor who. he shocked fans by making the announcement during an interview withjo whiley on radio 2. the actor, who has been in the role since 2013, said he felt it was time to move on. he'll leave at the end of the year. that's a summary of the latest bbc news. more at 10am. more comments, emotional watching about adoption breakdown. this e—mail, we have had our adoptive son for two years, it was very challenging for the beginning but now he has adapted to us fa ntastically, now he has adapted to us fantastically, our relationship feels so natural, sometimes we forget he is not our natural son. john watson is here again now with the morning's sport headlines.

two non—league sides into the fifth round for the first time in the tournament's history. one of those, sutton united, have been rewarded with a dream tie against the 12—time winners arsenal. this was the moment they found out who they will be facing. arsenal and their superstars making the trip to gander green lane, where they play on an artificial pitch. 5,000 the capacity, 55,000 less than the emirates. lincoln's reward for beating brighton of the championship is a tie away to burnley of the premier league. the side who top the national league were 3—1 winners last weekend. the january transfer window closes at 11pm tonight with premier league spending expected to surpass the record from january 2011. the biggest deal so far is that of dimitri payet, who has moved from west ham to marseille for £25 million. but with plenty of time left for deals to be done today, expect to see more deals done later. and, england received a boost ahead of their defence of the six nations, with propjoe marler set for a comeback for the grand—slam champions against france on saturday.

more later. you have to watch this next film. it's about a secret network of wildlife traffickers selling baby chimpanzees — a network finally exposed after a year—long bbc news investigation. the tiny, charming, adorable creatures are seized from the wild and sold as pets. two suspected animal smugglers have been arrested in ivory coast. 0ur science editor david shukman uncovered a notorious west african hub for wildlife trafficking, known as the "blue room", and led to the rescue of a one—year—old chimp in this heartbreaking film. a baby chimpanzee. captured from a jungle

in west africa. 0rphaned after poachers killed its family, and now looking for reassurance. chimps are in danger, so exporting them is illegal. but they are so adorable, they are wanted as pets on the black market. during a year—long investigation, we were sent these videos by dealers offering to sell the tiny animals for about £10,000 each. the chimps are destined for a life of captivity in the gulf states and asia. it's a cruel trade, and we've worked to expose it. our research led us to ivory coast, and a secret animal—trafficking network. this is the boxes.

you see? we got in touch with a dealer called ibrahima traore. he sent us a video of a crate specially made for wildlife smuggling. he'd use animals you are allowed to export to provide cover for a chimpanzee hidden below. he then met a colleague of ours who was pretending to be a buyer, and using a hidden camera. ibrahima spelled out his prices in dollars. then we had to wait for the deal itself. while we negotiated over social media. this video confirmed that he had a chimpanzee ready for export.

the recording used ourfake name and the correct date. young, very playful. ibrahima even showed his face on camera, as he had in earlier videos. apparently not worried about incriminating himself. 0ur undercover team got ready to see the chimp for themselves. but we weren't going into this alone. we briefed interpol and the police in ivory coast, and they prepared a sting. 0ur undercoverjournalist was going to meet ibrahima to see the animal before confirming the deal, and we were following.

hello, how are you? we are now on our way. 0ur undercover colleague is in a car in front of us, and he's following the dealer in a taxi who's meant to be leading him to his house where the chimpanzees are. we are in convoy with the police, and we are told it'll be about 30 minutes until we get there. this was the pivotal moment in the investigation, and it was incredibly tense. if we got too close, we risked being seen. but too far, and we'd lose them. a tracking device helped to guide us along a highway. a call from our undercover

team ahead of us. we were leaving the highway and heading into a maze of dusty streets on the edge of abidjan. we were obviously getting closer. using a hidden camera, our undercover colleague filmed his arrival at the dealer's house. we weren't far behind. 0ur colleague took pictures. his cover story was that he needed proof for a client in indonesia. at this point, the police moved in.

police! initially, there was confusion. the chimpanzee had been hidden. and everyone there denied knowing anything about it. and ibrahima had also vanished. detectives charged through the neighbourhood. they called on local people to help. minutes later, the police got their man.

0h, they've got him! 0ver there, they've got him. ibrahima traore was arrested. he is facing charges related to wildlife trafficking, along with his uncle, mohammed. the police then focused on his family's house. they weren't taking any chances. everyone was ordered to the ground. and a search led them to a small room, where they found a crate holding the chimpanzees. so the police have just made all of these arrests. it's pretty edgy here, the atmosphere, and

it's all about this. a baby chimpanzee taken from the jungle. the real tragedy of this trade is that to get one infant chimpanzee out of the jungle, all of the adults in its family have to be killed, that's as many as ten adults slaughtered just to get one chimp here ready for trade. we'd been advised not to touch the chimp until a vet had checked him. so, for a few agonising moments, he was all alone. the police then made a major discovery. that this house was a key centre

of chimpanzee trafficking. for years, when investigators have been looking for clues about smuggled chimpanzees, they've often seen these blue tiles in the background of the videos offered by the traders. well, this is it, what everyone calls the blue room. it's like a holding centre for animals on their way to be trafficked abroad. it's time to go. the chimpanzee was taken away into the care of wildlife officials. a crowd gathered outside the house. the cops are getting worried. many here were beginning to take the side of the men who'd been arrested. the atmosphere was becoming more tense. the police told us that we all had to go.

in the back of a car, the baby chimp watched nervously. a new chapter in his short life was about to begin. hungry but safe at the zoo in abidjan. the keepers gave him a name, nemblyjunior. he's doing well physically. the trauma he's been through may have caused lasting damage. will travers is here, the president of the born free foundation, an international charity which campaigns to protect species in the wild. what do you think? well, it is a shocking report. well done, david. well done the authorities for bringing this to the world's attention. it is something which has been bubbling around for a long time, but it never got this airspace before and it is a big trade. it is

not an isolated incident. this isn't one chimpanzee. 0fficial estimates about 400 chimpanzees have been trafficked since 2005 and if that statistic that david gave us, ten dead for every one that makes it, that's 4,000 dead for every one that makes it, that's 4, 000 chimpanzees dead for every one that makes it, that's 4,000 chimpanzees that have been killed to traffic those 400. david, referred at the end to, you know, lasting trauma on this chimpanzee because of what it had experienced. what, you know, what sort of impact will that have on a chimpanzee, it sounds bizarre saying it like that, it will, won't it? we watched the film and we see an almost little human being and we imagine the trauma that animal may have suffered and maybe seeing his entire family wiped out. there are specialist sanctuaries in africa that specialise in chimpanzees and they know what to do, this isn't a unique occurrence, but it is hard to imagine how much that little baby has suffered. how many chimps are left in the wild now, do we know?

between 300,000 and 400,000. it is difficult to get estimates. that number is going down? that number is in decomplain, all the great apes are in decline except for the great mountain gorilla. what can we do? i'm sickened by what we see on instagram, where we see people having photographs ta ken instagram, where we see people having photographs taken by an exotic animal. don't do that. that's isa exotic animal. don't do that. that's is a way that the traffickers eventually earn money, by charging people for those photographs and secondly, we've got to get to grips with illegal trade. they need the resources to tackle this issue. is that cash from governments, from charities, what? yes, it is cash, sort of cash from anywhere, but what they need to do, i believe, is to know trade and chimpanzees and in endangered species should take place evenif endangered species should take place even if it is from zoo to zoo unless

it is personally investigated and awe then ti kates the permits and certificates involved. thank you very much. thank you. my pleasure. will travers president of the born free foundation. on monday we're holding a special programme looking at the state of the nhs. we'll be looking at the problems it's facing and asking your help for solutions. if you work in the nhs — a doctor, a nurse or a consultant — or you're a patient with recent experience, we'd love you to take part in the programme. it's in central london on monday, 6th february. e—mail victoria@bbc.co.uk to register your interest and one of our team will be in touch. asylum seekers are being housed in rat—infested homes in the uk, conditions which have been described as "disgraceful" by mps. these pictures are from glasgow and

they have been provided to us by the scottish refugee council show some exa m ples of scottish refugee council show some examples of what the mps are talking about. the politicians‘ report focuses on accommodation run by g4s and serco. the accommodation we're showing you now is provided by a different company. we were invited to view g4s homes in sheffield. the company chose to let us in, so they obviously chose one they're quite happy with. the homes we were shown, which were for men only, housed about five people from countries including sudan, sri lanka and iran. as part of g4s‘ contract with the government, the company is supposed to provide safe, habitable accommodation — but the report after a year—long investigation cited g4s as one of the poorer providers of housing, and our reporter chi chi izundu put some of the report's findings to one of its senior staff. we have a cleaning contractor who cleans properties for us. every single day they are going into properties to clean them.

we also... the service users who live in the properties also have a responsibility to keep the properties clean. and we go over and beyond in that respect to give them cleaning products, so that's not part of our contract but we do that. but what is down to g4s and what is part of your contract is you guys are supposed to provide furnished living. in some cases cited in this report, people didn't have beds, they were given a mattress and that's it. there was a case where a young woman was given a baby's cot frame, no bedding, no mattress. well, any... some of the comments that have been made in the report are anecdotal, we don't have clear information around those particular cases. i would say to you that if anybody rings in to complain about issues such as a lack of bedding or, like you say, cots that are not

properly equipped, then we would be addressing that immediately. i think the vulnerable people that have lived in these properties, when they've complained to your service centres, there's been dismissive responses. there's even a quote saying "if you do this, it will backfire," which sounds threatening. absolutely, and i don't recognise that. i am in that service centre every single week, i listen to calls coming in. if i ever heard anybody talking in that way then there would be an investigation to find out exactly what the content of that conversation was, but i do not recognise the quote that's been given. g4s‘ managing director for immigration and borders john whitwam here. as well as the labour mp yvette cooper who's in charge of a group of mps who've been looking into the issue. and from middlesbrough, we havejoel mebara who spent time living in a g4s property whilst he was an asylum seeker — joel now has refugee status and no

longer lives in a g4s property. good morning. thank you for coming on the programme. would you live in a house infested with rats, mice and bed bugs? no, of course, iwouldn't. why do you expect other people to do that then? i don't. i'm responsible for 4,000 properties in our contract areas, it covers the midlands and the north—east of england. across those 4,000 properties they are regularly inspected. i think it was the chief executive of serco who described these as the most inspected properties. does that mean the inspectors are missing the rats and the mice and the bed bugs? every year we conduct 50,000 inspections and top of those inspections the home office inspection team conducts a further 1500. what point are you making? there are some houses with rats and mice and bed bugs in? every time we have an inspection that's one heck of a defect, is it? isn't it? of those things that need to be addressed, 3,000 are phoned through from the asylum seekers, the rest we

find from our own inspections and every time there is an issue, be it a bed bug or need for additional bedding or a blocked drain, we address them. the issue is not the fa ct address them. the issue is not the fact that things go wrong in a house, they go wrong in my house, they go wrong in every house, but they go wrong in every house, but the requirement we have to address them which we do. yvette cooper, do talk to him. we heard evidence from the providers about what they were doing, the problem is we also heard just too many stories from all over the country about the kinds of things that you talked about, whether that was about rodents or the bed bugs or about unclean conditions. now, i'm sure there are some excellent examples of very good accommodation being provided, but when you have so many examples that we we re when you have so many examples that we were hearing ofjust awful conditions and particularly for pregnant women or for people who have been victims of torture, i think it isjust a disgrace that anybody should have to live in conditions like that. and i think that the problem for us is we heard a lot of evidence about that there

are lots and lots of inspections happening, they're not dealing with those problems. therefore, our recommendation was that the inspection regime should be passed over to local authorities so they can do the inspections instead. are you inspecting your own properties? we inspect our properties and the home office inspect our properties and the home office have an inspection regime. last year over 550 inspections took place from local authorities. each one of those inspections had a list of defects, a defect might be that an individual needed medical treatment. it might be that there was a blocked lavatory. whatever they find, it is our obligation to address it and we do so and so i think there are about 107,000 defects ranging from large and serious to small, all of which we re and serious to small, all of which were addressed. so they are all addressed, yvette cooper? that's not what we found. there is a reality gap here. asylum seekers were saying, i have complained about it. i can't stop crying and i can't eat

because of the mouldy smell. i'm five months pregnant and i'm scared i will have to raise my child in this way with dirt and vermin. i feel anything could happen. what you also get is people who are afraid to complain because they're afraid that somehow maybe if they complain about the accommodation well that will affect their asylum claim or are just worried or don't know what the syste m just worried or don't know what the system is for raising complaints and concerns. so you've got to have that additional support in place as well. but i think, look, the sense that we had is for all of this talk about the numberof had is for all of this talk about the number of inspections and the numberof the number of inspections and the number of problems that are being solved, we just found too many cases where itjust wasn't solved, we just found too many cases where it just wasn't working and thatis where it just wasn't working and that is the problem when you've got vulnerable people being left living in these conditions. if i can address the point of access to complaints. i'm not sure of contact from the asylum seekers. 0ver complaints. i'm not sure of contact from the asylum seekers. over 3,000 people will call our free helpline this month. yesterday, we had a call

from somebody who had a chip pan so we are relocating those individuals. the evidence is that asylum seekers are prepared to make contact with us and remember as well as having a g4s welfare officer, they have a dedicated home office case worker who looks after their asylum claimment i have no influence or interest in the application which the asylum seekers have as to whether or not they are agranted asylu m whether or not they are agranted asylum is not anything to do with the providers such as g4s or serbing co, it is the home office. snaou know that and i know that, but for a lot of them they don't know that and they're fearful lot of them they don't know that and they‘ re fea rful and that's lot of them they don't know that and they're fearful and that's the problem and i think the other thing is you talked about the number of complaints and so on that you've had, well, there are obviously a lot of other cases that are never making it to complaints in the first place, so you're dealing with a high level of complaints, and that in itself should raise concern about what is happening and about the sort of standard of accommodation and whether it is reaching the high

enough standards in enough places, i don't doubt that there are some very good levels of acam dougs. i'm fea rful good levels of acam dougs. i'm fearful that there are too many exa m ples of fearful that there are too many examples of just really fearful that there are too many examples ofjust really unfit and unfair accommodation that people are being put in. it sounds like you're rejecting that? i'm saying that all of the accommodation which we have is given to us by landlords. local authorities have to give us permission to take this property. i am inspected by the home office and by the local authority. where there is fault i must mend it. where the asylu m is fault i must mend it. where the asylum seek erases to raise a defect, it is not a complaint, that something has gone wrong with their house as well as my house. yesterday i received two letters both from mps from sheffield asking me toll investigate specific cases which i will. you were an asylum seeker. you have refugee status, tell us about living in g4s accommodation. refugee status, tell us about living in 645 accommodation.”

refugee status, tell us about living in 645 accommodation. i have to say the house is in quite poor condition and we sometimes have messy carpet without a hoover to clean it. and the house is full of cockroaches, bed bugs, so it's quite a difficult place to live in. and have you complained? i have complained a few times. what was done? they said they would send someone to look at it, but they never did. i had you talking about inspection. i stayed in a house for two years, i never had an inspection in the house i was living in. respond to what he

said. very distressing. i would like to have the opportunity to look into this, it is hard for me to pass comment on individual cases. where there is an issue raised, we have to look into it. everything is put onto a database that the home office addresses. were i not to meet a defect or a complaint, i would be subject to sanctions from the home 0ffice. subject to sanctions from the home office. nobody has done anything there for two years. rather like with the anecdote and the comments in the report, i am not sure that represents the whole picture. i have over 100 people in his area and into north—east looking after people like him, and they are not businessmen, they full—time professionals, with ten or 20 years experience, and four of our welfare officers are themselves asylum seekers, so when

themselves asylum seekers, so when the team visited sheffield is today, they had the chance to talk about —— to talk to one of our officers, an asylu m to talk to one of our officers, an asylum seeker. it sounds like lionel. i do not put all of the responsibility on you, because i think there are problems in the contracting system come at the home 0ffice contracting system come at the home office has to take responsibility. but it has been too easy, whether it is for the bbc, for us or for other people, to find so many cases where the standards are not being met, so something is not working, whether it is in your inspection system or the home office system or the way in which the accommodation has been provided. the latest news and sport in a moment. first, the weather. a cloudy day, with rain moving from the west towards the east. it will be on and off through the course of the day, and cloud in between,

dampness and drizzle. the sunshine will be at a premium, but the best place is in northern ireland. it will brighten up, with just a few showers. it is mild for the west and south. through the evening and overnight, rain will push over england and wales, hitting across southern parts of scotland. some clear skies across scotland and northern ireland. we could see a small touch of frost, nothing too substantial. tomorrow, we start with this rain moving off into the north sea. behind, a veil of cloud, but some will break through the day. sunshine will come through, before the next band of patchy rain and a strengthening wind from the north—west. hello, it's tuesday, 10am, i'm victoria derbyshire. thousands of children are successfully adopted each year, but a small number of cases tragically end in failure. we hear why some adoptive parents return their child into care.

for us, you know, it felt like failure. it felt like letting this kid down. and how can you do this to your own son, that you really love? we'll also look at the capping of the adoption support fund and what impact it could have on families in need. do get in touch with your thoughts. also today, this baby chimp has been rescued after traffickers tried to sell it as a pet. we'll bring you a special report from the bbc‘s year—long investigation into the selling of baby chimps, the killing of their families and the arrests of the traffickers involved. detectives charged to the neighbourhood. they called on local people to help. minutes later, the

police got their man. they have got him? they police got their man. they have got him ? they have police got their man. they have got him? they have got him. and, should parents be able to take their children out of school for a holiday? 0ne father who did just that tells us why he feels he did nothing wrong, as we await a supreme court ruling on his actions in the next half an hour. good morning. here'sjoanna in the bbc newsroom with a summary of today's news. president trump has said he sacked the acting us attorney general because she had betrayed her department by refusing to enforce his new immigration rules. sally yates, who was appointed by president obama, had ordered lawyers not to enforce the ban on people entering america from seven mainly muslim countries. she said she was not convinced it was lawful. a former head of the foreign office has accused theresa may of putting the queen in "a very difficult position" by inviting president trump to make a state visit to the uk.

lord ricketts said it should be downgraded to an official visit to spare the queen more controversy. thousands of people joined anti—trump protests in london and around the uk last night. a petition calling for his trip to be cancelled has gathered more than 1.5 million signatures. a french—canadian student has appeared in court in quebec, charged with the murder of six muslim worshippers who were shot dead at a mosque on sunday. alexandre bissonnette, who's 27, did not speak during his court appearance. he faces six counts of murder and five of attempted murder. vigils have been held across canada in memory of those killed and injured. adoption organisations have told this programme that a cap on funding for specialist therapy could lead to a rise in the number of placements breaking down. the adoption support fund, which provides financial help for therapy, was capped last october to £5,000 per child. agencies are concerned that without sufficient funds to help

children from disadvantaged backgrounds, families will not be able to cope. and we'll be hearing from some of those affected by the change to the adoption support fund in just a few minutes' time. a legal battle over the rights of parents to take their children on term—time holidays reaches the supreme court five judges will hear an appeal by isle of wight council, which fined a father, jon platt, for taking his daughter to florida without her school's permission. mr platt challenged his fine in the high court, and won. that's a summary of the latest bbc news. more at 10:30am. we will talk more about adoption in the next few minutes, do get in touch. use the hashtag #victorialive. if you text, you will be charged at the standard network rate. i want positive experiences as well as problems and how you have worked through them or perhaps not. john watson is back now with more from the bbc sport centre. two non—league sides into the fifth

round of the fa cup for the first time. sutton united and lincoln city have both been rewarded with some impressive ties in the fifth round. especially sutton united, at home against arsenal, they have won the competition so many times, outstanding award for them. you look at players like rory deacon, an ex—arsenal ruth beitia, he still has ambition, and what a dream it is for him to play against his boyhood team. and lincoln city, no surprises, they did a good job with brighton at home, and they are going to burnley. a tough place to play. they have a great record at home this season, burnley, but they were fa ncy this season, burnley, but they were fancy their chances. what will it be like for the players? arsenal making the trip to sutton united, the stadium is 55,000 less than theirs.

it is so intimate, we were there a few months ago, it is a great place, afamily run few months ago, it is a great place, a family run club. it has a special feel about it, the team spirit and confidence will be high. it will be difficult for arsenal to adjust to the pitch and adapt. but i am not sure they will have to much. but what a dream. it is what the fa cup was crying out for. transfer deadline day as well, so we could see players on the move, premier league spending could top record levels in january league spending could top record levels injanuary once again. a lot of movement later? i would think so, a lot of clubs in trouble or wanting to get to the next level, so there will be a lot of activity. it is just waiting for the domino effect to happen. i am looking at mousa dembele from celtic, to potentially tie in for chelsea. may she batch

away could then go to west ham, who need a striker. that has been the biggest deal so far, dimitri payet leaving west ham for marseille. they we re leaving west ham for marseille. they were after him in the summer, he has not played a lot of football, and if that happens, scott hogan is not going to west ham, he might go elsewhere, and there could be a domino effect. i expect a lot of activity. the window closes at 11pm. what is it like if you have been rumoured with a potential move and there is still no guarantee that the move will happen? how unsettling is it? i moved in january once, from qpr to west ham, it was quite civilised and am quite early, but i can imagine what the players will be going through, with social media and the agents. they must be looking at their phone every five minutes, thinking, have i got the call? you look at leonardo ulloa at leicester city, a breakdown in comedic asian with the manager. he has not been

playing —— a breakdown in communication. it is sad to say that he will not play there again, he will look at that as a mistake. i hope he gets a move, because he looks like a good pro, he wants to play football, and he is not playing at the moment. is lance yamani is their focal point. plenty of moves still to play. the window closes at 11pm, you can follow it all on social media. this morning, what makes a couple give back an adopted child? there are many complex reasons, not least because a child taken from its birth family will more often than not have experienced some kind of trauma. but today there are fears that limiting the amount of money available to help families struggling with adopted children could lead to a rise in the number of placements breaking down. the government have capped the amount of money available via the adoption support fund to £5,000 per child.

that money pays for therapy, intensive therapy needed by children from violent, abusive and disruptive backgrounds. but the therapy can cost a lot more than that. many families are worried their help and support could be about to stop. we played you lesley ashmall‘s full film earlier in the programme. here's a short extract. adoption breakdown — or disruption, as it's sometimes called — happens when a child either goes back into care or leaves the family home. 0ne adoption charity thinks as many as a quarter of all families are in crisis, needing help to keep their relationships together. rob, which isn't his real name, and his wife have children of their own, but they adopted three siblings. the reports warned the eldest had problems but nothing prepared

them for the reality. he was violent towards my wife. she got kicked, thumped, things like that, quite a lot. and quite a lot of emotional abuse to her as well. yeah, and this is from a four, five—year—old kid. and we werejust shell—shocked, really. what was the trauma like on you and your wife? well, my wife really shows the sort of symptoms you'd expect from someone who's suffered domestic abuse at times. he just became untenable, which was why we finally had to ask the local authority to step in and move him back into foster care. it's not known how many adoptions break down, but the estimated figure varies from just over 3.2% to,

according to one charity, nearly 9%. professorjulie selwyn has written the definitive research into adoption disruption. it's whether they want to be adopted, if they are older, and how long they've been exposed to adversity in their life. professor selwyn says specialist therapy is needed for adopted youngsters who have been in care and who have often suffered early trauma. but it is expensive and changes to england's adoption support fund means there's now a maximum budget of £5,000 per for counselling. many interventions for these children need a lot more than just one—off therapy. these are... this is therapy that needs to be ongoing and will cost a lot more than 5,000.

the saddest bit for me is that we gave everything that we had, but the people that we thought were going to be backing us up and giving the bits that we couldn't, just weren't there. we can speak now to louise. it isn't her real name, and we are protecting her identity to protect her two adopted teenage children. also with us, libby. she has an adoptive daughter with foetal alcohol syndrome, and is worried about what the adoption support fund cap could mean for the treatment she receives. we're not using her surname. jay vaughan is the clinical director of family futures, which provides therapy and support paid for by the adoption support fund. hugh thornbery is the chief executive of adoption uk and also the chair of the adoption support fund expert advisory group. julie got in touch. she is a member

of our audience. julie is not her real name. she adopted her son when he was six. by the age of 14 he had become aggressive and violent and she and her husband took the decision that their son needed to go back into care. julie, hello. thank you very much for talking to us. tell our audience a little bit about what you experienced with your son between the ages of six and 14? we experienced a lot of violence mainly towards myself. extremely violent where i would have to call the police and they would have to calm him down. what kind of things was he doing? he would hit me with, he would pull the poles off the curtain rails and whack with me them. he would just hit me generally

and scream at me. throw things at me, smash things in the home. lob things at me. he was just extremely aggressive and violent towards me. wow. and presumably that's related to his first, the first six years of his life? yes, it was, he came from an extremely violent background, drug and alcohol difficulties, he was born heroin addicted himself. right. aged 14, you took that incredibly difficult decision that he would go back into the care. why did you make that decision?” he would go back into the care. why did you make that decision? i made the decision because he was having an effect on the younger sibling. his full sibling in the home and also he kept absconding from us and he would run back to the birth pa rents he would run back to the birth parents and they would secretly keep him away and then he would turn up a few days later after a police hunt

for him. can you give us an insight into what it is like to make a decision like that? it is absolutely heartbreaking because... it isjust awful. it's really hard. it has an effect on you forever, i think. we'll never stop loving him. hejust needs on you forever, i think. we'll never stop loving him. he just needs so much help that would just couldn't offer him and we couldn't get that from any authority, theyjus't couldn't accept that he needed extreme help. jay, you work in terms of therapy for children similar to julie's son. absolutely. what would you say to julie? julie's son. absolutely. what would you say tojulie? she is clearly feeling guilt for what happened. you say tojulie? she is clearly feeling guilt for what happenedm isjust so sad to hear that. i think it's so familiar. there is so many

families who we have seen sort of close to that point and sadly some where it has disrupted and i think sadlyjulie is where it has disrupted and i think sadly julie is right, where it has disrupted and i think sadlyjulie is right, this is a grieving process which is very hard to grieve because the child is still alive so you haven't lost a child in the same way, but you're left with all those feelings of loss. so it takes a long time to recover from andl takes a long time to recover from and i think there needs to be more help which is why we're all here today talking to really help these families not get to that point because these children do need intensive comprehensive help. julie, stay with us as we talk to our other guests here in the studio and please, please be part of the conversation because, you know, what you have described is heartbreaking as you said. louise, you adopted siblings. i want to ask you what, did you know about their background? what had social workers told you about their background ? what had social workers told you about their background? they told us the most, ithink

about their background? they told us the most, i think of the information that we needed to know as far as they knew it. they told us that their birth family were addicted to drugs and mother had been a prostitute and that there were members ofa prostitute and that there were members of a close family were in prison. right. and in terms of you bringing up your adopted children, tell us what that was like? for the first few years i think a lot of adoptive families are so happy to have a family. we solicitor injured on and —— soldiered on and it wasn't until flagging it up to the school who helped us get support and once my son was seven we realised we really needed more support than the local authority could give us. and

before you were able to access that support, how close were you to this adoption breaking down? we were just overwhelmed. i think the stress, a child's trauma is transferred to the adoptive parents and i think that the stress that we felt was so overwhelming that we couldn't see straight. so we knew we needed more support, but we didn't really know what that support should look like. yes. we needed expert help. jaougs there is a lot more of it around now because this was a few years ago, but there is still a complete lack of support for parents who are in our situation. what support did you get as a result of money from the adoption support fund? we were back

to cams who didn't help. luckily the adoption support fund came in and we we re adoption support fund came in and we were able to go back to funding futures which was fantastic for our children because they built up trusting relationships with the therapists there. what about the cap? £5,000 per child. to most taxpayers, they will be thinking that's plenty of money? it is not enough. if you think about how much a therapist costs and therapy for a child that's been traumatised and their families isn'tjust child that's been traumatised and their families isn't just go child that's been traumatised and their families isn'tjust go in for on hourand their families isn'tjust go in for on hour and lie on a bench and somebody talks to you and says breathe deeply, we do art, we do drama, we do music, we do yoga, as well as talking therapy, there is so much more, sensory integration work. does it work? i know people will be thinking you do art, how is that going to help a kid from a heroin addicted mum. tell us how it works?

i think these children come with complex problems, it is about you need a complex solution and you need a very holistic approach and if one thinks about how trauma affects the whole body and the nervous system, the whole way a child is wired is around the trauma. trauma. expressing themselves verbally is not easy. it isn't a way that accesses for all of them. being able to put it, draw something on a piece of paper, why is that, a release for them if they can't express it verbally, why does the art help? t—provides another way of expressing the unexpressable. what these children have been through sometimes is so horrific, how do you find words for it? if you can paint it andi words for it? if you can paint it and i think there was artwork used in yourfilm earlier. if and i think there was artwork used in your film earlier. if you and i think there was artwork used in yourfilm earlier. if you can paint itand in yourfilm earlier. if you can paint it and if you can act it out, it is another way of expressing it, rather than reenacting it on the

adoptive parents or on the sibling. there is a need, we all have a need with trauma, to tell others about it. but it is about finding a safe way of communicating. right, hugh, let's just talk about this adoption support fund because when i look at the total funding from the government, it's going up. £19 million to £23 million. yes, the amount per family is million to £23 million. yes, the amount perfamily is going to be capped at £5,000, but the department for education say, if there is need, for education say, if there is need, for more therapeutic support for a child, where it exceeds the £5,000, the funding will be split between the funding will be split between the local council, if the council agrees, and the government effectively. so, therapy could still be paid forup effectively. so, therapy could still be paid for up to £30,000, £40,000, £50,000. one of the great things about the adoption support fund is the fact that it began to address the fact that it began to address the postcode lottery because there isa the postcode lottery because there is a level of need that's been unmet for a long time that you have been hearing about. some local authorities have been much better at recognising that and meeting it than

others. so if you roll back three or four years, it was a very, very mixed picture across the country. a national fund helped to equalise that and it has benefited now nearly 8800 families. i think by bringing in the limit it does obviously potentially risk those children who have got higher levels of need being able to access the service they want and we have seen because there has beena limit and we have seen because there has been a limit imposed this year, sorry this last year, we see that some local authorities are prepared to match fund, to bring the amount up, other authorities are refusing to do that, probably because of cuts to do that, probably because of cuts to their budgets. so the risk is we're moving back into a situation where depending on where you live you either get a reasonably good service. although the department for education say 80% of applications to fund, to the fund, are under £5,000 per child. so under the limit. that's right. the average is about £4,000. so the majority's needs will

still be met with the fair access limit that's been brought in, but it does pose the issue of some of the cases that we have just been hearing about that will require a far greater degree of therapy than that, over a period of time. and the big missing thing here is the discussion about mental health services because the government put £1.4 billion, which puts the fund into prospective, £1.4 billion into additional services for children's mental health, half of the clinical commissioning groups in the country, the gp—led groups that decide how funding is used has spent that money on other things. it has not gone to those services. so, we need to talk about the fund and how that's helping and what some of the limitations are and we need to understand there is a bigger issue about many of these children have needs and they are not being met. let me bring in a viewer who doesn't wa nt to let me bring in a viewer who doesn't want to leave their name. we have two adopted children. 0ur

want to leave their name. we have two adopted children. our son is 13 and our daughter is nine. 0ur children experienced neglect and abuse for a long time with their birth families before they were taken into care. and it is extremely challenging at times. i sympathise with those adoptive parents who have had to take the heartbreaking decision to place their son or daughter back into care. very few people understand just how hard adoption is. for us, at this time, it is, it remains the best thing we've ever done, but without support, we don't know what may happen in the future and that is your worry, i think libby as well, your worry, i think libby as well, you have a three—year—old daughter. she is here today, you got help from the adoption support fund back in march last year. why did you need that financial help? so my daughter has foetal alcohol syndrome. explain what that is? before i adopted her, i knew there was a lot of alcohol consumed in pregnancy, i knew she had emotional or behavioural issues linked to the substance misuse. her mum was an alcoholic? a lot of the

drinking happened before she knew she was pregnant. people drink and not realise there are no safe limits in pregnancy. but she did come with this future risk of foetal alcohol syndrome, but after she was placed with me, it became clear quickly this was a definite need that she had. she had quite significant sensory issues and that's kind... what does that mean? she is very young and they said before she was placed that she didn't like loud noises, but i hadn't quite comprehended or understood how limiting that was. she couldn't cope with the sound of vegetables being chopped on a board, the hoover, i rememberwhen she chopped on a board, the hoover, i remember when she moved in, chopped on a board, the hoover, i rememberwhen she moved in, she was asleep and i switched a light on downstairs and it woke her up. she isn't able to regulate noise. the social workers said, look, she may have a problem with loud noises. yes. you hadn't understood the extent. do you feel they didn't give you enough information or perhaps they just gave you you enough information or perhaps theyjust gave you what they had, theyjust gave you what they had, they didn't know anymore?”

theyjust gave you what they had, they didn't know anymore? i think it is what they had. there was a change in social worker at the last hurdle so in social worker at the last hurdle so the social worker that was involved the whole way through, was never the one i dealt with and i feel fortunate with our local authority that they have been supportive and what i understood in the future i was probably going to deal with foetal alcohol, but there was no real expectation that it was going to be immediate and i think also the change in placement, the moving to live with me taken away from her loving foster parents was probablyjust a catalyst for what would have happened anyway, but it did mean it was said that the child i was placed with was not the child that anybody had expected. and both in good ways and bad ways. i'm not knocking that. you have had support from the adoption support fund and in what form does that take with your little girl? it became really clear to me she needed occupational therapy, a way to manage her senses and a way to leave the house without her having an aggressive meltdown. i

did my own research and i found a really good organisation, 0n did my own research and i found a really good organisation, on the go who specialise in that and contacted my social worker, but again with the adoption support fund it clearly says they won't pay for occupational therapy. so initially i funded it myself. and then we real i seed they will pay for occupational therapy if it is sensory integration, i come across adopters and they say, we know they won't pay for that and there are limits. the other thing my daughter needs is speech and language which i can't access on the adoption support fund. once i accessed, it was life changing and we have been fortunate. the total budget has gone up, but we have regressed to a postcode lottery, so what can you do? we can raise these issues. we monitor the use of the adoption support fund, we get information on which authorities are using it, which are not, we get

intelligence about whether people are waiting too long for assessment, except rep. adoption uk and those i work with will continue to ensure the money is easily accessed for the families that meet the criteria, we will continue to persuade government that it needs to invest, because we are only beginning to see the full extent of the level of need. many adopters have been better —— detached from the professionals they have not received help. up until —— up have not received help. up until —— up to 25% of families have experienced real difficulties and are now beginning to realise there is something that might be there to help them. that puts pressure on the amount offunding help them. that puts pressure on the amount of funding that has been put in place. as far as i understand it, official figures in place. as far as i understand it, officialfigures are in place. as far as i understand it, official figures are not kept on how many breakdowns there are, the estimates range from about 3% to 9% to even a third. research says a

third are ok, a third struggle and a third are ok, a third struggle and a third to shrug. what is clear in other research is that the cost records are not clearly kept, we do not know how many adaptions —— adoptions are breaking down. 0ur experience is that it's a high number breaking down or close to disruption, and in the last week we have had two families saying if there is no funding, we don't think we can go on, we will have to say to the local authority, we can't do this. it is a serious problem, and i am worried about how the cap will happen. really appreciate you talking to us. talking through what a heartbreaking decision and you talk, we really

appreciate it. here'sjoanna in the bbc newsroom with a summary of today's news. president trump has fired the acting us attorney—general, saying she had "betrayed" her department by refusing to enforce his travel ban for seven mainly—muslim countries. sally yates had told her lawyers not to defend the executive order which the president signed on friday, as it might not be legal. ms yates had been appointed by president obama. mr trump said his opponents were trying to obstruct him. mps will this afternoon hold their first debate on the government's bill to trigger the formal process of leaving the eu. the labour leaderjeremy corbyn has given his party strict orders to support the measure but some labour mps have said they willjoin the snp in voting against it. a legal battle over the rights of parents to take their children on term—time holidays reaches the supreme court today. five judges will hear an appeal by isle of wight council, which fined a father, jon platt, for taking his daughter to florida without her school's permission. mr platt challenged his fine in the high court, and won. that's a summary of the latest news.

join me for bbc newsroom live at 11am. here's some sport now withjohn watson. two non—league sides into the fifth round for the first time in the tournament's history. one of those, sutton united, have been rewarded with a dream tie against the 12—time winners arsenal. this was the moment they found out who they will be facing. arsenal and their superstars making the trip to gander green lane, where they play on an artificial pitch. 5,000 the capacity, 55,000 less than the emirates. lincoln's reward for beating brighton of the championship is a tie away to burnley of the premier league. the side who top the national league were 3—1 winners last weekend. the january transfer window closes at 11pm tonight with premier league spending expected to surpass the record from january 2011. the biggest deal so far is that of dimitri payet, who has moved from west ham to marseille for £25 million. but with plenty of time left

for deals to be done today, expect to see more deals done later. a legal battle over the rights of parents to take their children out of school for holidays during term—time reaches the highest court in the land today, the supreme court. this will have a massive impact on any parent. five justices will hear an appeal by isle of wight council, which fined a father, jon platt, for taking his daughter to florida without her school's permission. mr platt challenged his fine in the high court and won, and now it's gone to the supreme court for a finaljudgement. if you have taken your child out of school for a holiday without permission, so it's an unauthorised absence, let me know why. and were you fined? speaking ahead of the case, jon platt told us how he was feeling. i'm remarkably calm, victoria. i thought i'd be a lot more nervous than i am. all of this is now out of my hands, it's in the hands of my very talented legal team and in the hands of the supreme courtjustices. what is it that you want from today?

well, the supreme court has been asked to make quite shocking ruling. so the department for education and the isle of wight council, they're going to argue that any unauthorised absence from school is a criminal offence. so their interpretation of children attending school regularly is that they should attend on every day that the school requires it. and the supreme court is entitled to come to that opinion, they are entitled to agree with them, but if they do, 12.8 million unauthorised absences happened in the last academic year. just the last autumn term of 2015, there was 4.1 million unauthorised absences. if we lose today, those unauthorised absences all become criminal offences and, going forward, any single day that a child misses at school without the permission of the school triggers criminal liability. but maybe that's what's needed to make sure their child is in school every day? it's not needed in this country, i don't think. maybe in north korea, victoria. but i don't think there are any circumstances under which that level

of draconian interpretation of the word regularly is required, you know? i don't see any circumstances under which a child with maybe 98, 99% attendance, the parents should be dragged to court. it would be outrageous, absolutely outrageous. well, the department for education says regular attendance means not missing one day of school. that's what they say now. let's just be clear, victoria, they have never said that in the past. it is only in relation to this case and, boy, have we looked hard to find statutory guidance or caselaw where anybody has ever said that regular attendance in school is every single day. but you're right, they do say that now. 35 councils in england no longer fine parents for term—time holidays as a direct result of jon platt's case. jerry glazier is an executive member of the national union of teachers. he doesn't think fining parents is the right way forward. samantha woodland is a motherfrom cleethorpes. john mitchell is a father from portsmouth who has been fined twice by his daughter's school.

and denise pritchett was fined yesterday for taking her daughter away last october. she's going to pay the fine. that is the intention. you sure? i would rather pay that now than leave it and try and appeal it and potentially cost me thousands of pounds. why did you take your daughter out in october?m pounds. why did you take your daughter out in october? it was my elder daughter's gcses last year, and it was her reward for doing well. it is myjumper daughter that well. it is myjumper daughter that we have received the fine for. did you have to go away then? the trip was to florida. it was halloween that my daughter wanted to go. halloween only occurs in october. the previous year, the school had

actually given us two weeks' holiday in october. i had anticipated they would do the same again, but they did not. you have been fined how many times? once. you took her to disneyland paris for her birthday. you refusing to pay. we did ask the school, we said in a letter, it went to the board of governors, they turned it down. they said, can't you ta ke turned it down. they said, can't you take her when it is the school holidays? have you seen the prices of holidays in the summer? we paid an arm and a leg to take a two distiller in paris in november. if i wanted to look about holiday in the

school holidays, i would have paid double. definitely. does your daughter need that holiday? no! your response tells me the answer!” daughter need that holiday? no! your response tells me the answer! i am a dad that always says yes to my daughter. you setting up problems! we ask her, what do she want to do for her birthday? guess what she says, disneyland paris, of course! she wanted to take her friend as well. did you say guests? yes, she is at well. did you say guests? yes, she isata well. did you say guests? yes, she is at a different school. she never got fined. that is interesting. that is probably because of this case. samantha, hello. your son has had an

excellent attendance record. you talk him out of school for a wedding, you have been fined and you are refusing to pay. we took him out for two family weddings which were in the same week. one was in fort william and the second was in the 0rkneys, so it is not a trip you can do within a day. you could not have been surprised when you got the fine? we put the request in, and under the circumstances, until recently, we were a military family, my husband served for the last 15 years, and due to those commitments we have missed countless family gatherings. so now we are out in civvy street, we were hopeful that we would be permitted... it is a one off, i do not think we should be punished for it. if this supreme

court case means parents will be criminalised and find for taking their children out of school, is that right? the national union of teachers believes passionately that everything should be done for children to attend school. it is important that parents understand sometimes the negative impact of taking their children out. but fining parents creates a negative environment, and it creates confrontation. how would you deal with parents who do it? you began to deal with him very well! it is not myjob! deal with him very well! it is not my job! it is engaging with parents constructively and saying, think about this think about the impact think about whether it is absolutely necessary. there will be occasions when it is necessary. it is different from persistent truancy. if you do it on a case—by—case

basis, samantha says, military family, we have missed weddings, family, we have missed weddings, family gatherings, finally we can ta ke family gatherings, finally we can take our child, they are a bit of a trek, the 0rkneys and the other place, i have forgotten... for william. broadly, most parents might say, take your child. some might say to you, it is disneyland paris, it is not a family wedding. but then john will say, hang on, some of the's it can go to a wedding, why can't i go to paris for my daughter's birthday? there needs to be some sophistication and discretion. the problem in the past has been that the department for education has handed down a diktat to headteachers and said, you have got to say no on every case. you say, leave it to headteachers? give them the discretion to understand them the discretion to understand

the circumstances to make a decision. we asked for our daughter to come out two weeks ago to go to a family funeral and they denied us an hour and family funeral and they denied us an hourand a family funeral and they denied us an hour and a quarter. so we took her away for the whole day. we will report back on the case when the supreme court hands down the decision. two suspected animal smugglers have been arrested in ivory coast following a year—long bbc investigation into the trafficking of baby chimpanzees. there's growing demand for baby chimps as exotic pets in the gulf states and asia. the only way to catch them is to kill the adults in their families. 0ur science editor david shukman found dealers willing to sell the apes, which are an endangered species, for $12,500 each. after arresting the men, police uncovered computer and mobile phone evidence of an international smuggling network linking corrupt officials, middlemen and buyers. we played you david's full film earlier in the programme. here's a short extract. chimps shriek.

a baby chimpanzee. captured from a jungle in west africa. 0rphaned after poachers killed its family, and now looking for reassurance. chimps are in danger, so exporting them is illegal. but they are so adorable, they are wanted as pets on the black market. during a year—long investigation, we were sent these videos by dealers offering to sell the tiny animals for about £10,000 each. this is the boxes. you see? this is the place of the hidden. we got in touch with a dealer

called ibrahima traore. he sent us a video of a crate specially made for wildlife smuggling. he then met a colleague of ours who was pretending to be a buyer, and using a hidden camera. ibrahima spelled out his prices in dollars. 0ne chimp is...? i told you the price. 12-5. 12-5? 12,500. 0k. 25,000 for the two chimps? using a hidden camera, our undercover colleague filmed his arrival at the dealer's house. we weren't far behind. oh, look at these! i'm 0k, yes, i'mjusta bit afraid of the animal. laughter. 0k. hold on for a moment. 0ur colleague took pictures. his cover story was that he needed proof for a client in indonesia. he will be my first pet. at this point, the police moved in. police! initially, there was confusion.

the chimpanzee had been hidden. and everyone there denied knowing anything about it. and ibrahima had also vanished. detectives charged through the neighbourhood. they called on local people to help. ibrahima traore was arrested. he's facing charges related to wildlife trafficking, along with his uncle, mohammed. and a search led them to a small room, where they found a crate holding the chimpanzee. so the police have just made

all of these arrests. it's pretty edgy here, the atmosphere, and it's all about this. a baby chimpanzee taken from the jungle. the real tragedy of this trade is that to get one infant chimpanzee out of the jungle, all of the adults in its family have to be killed. that's as many as ten adults slaughtered just to get one chimp here ready for trade. hungry but safe at the zoo in abidjan. the keepers gave him a name, nemblyjunior. he's doing well physically. but the trauma he's been through may have caused lasting damage. live in nairobi isjohn scanlon from cites, which aims to ensure that international trade of wild animals does not threaten their survival. dr rebecca atencia is from the jane goodall institute, and is director of their chimpanzee sanctuary in the democratic republic of congo. dr cleve hicks is a specialist in chimp behaviour, having worked with them for more than 15 years in the wild. and kaddu sebunya is president

of the african wildlife foundation, which works directly with african governments for the protection of wildlife. welcome all of you. john scanlon, how big is this problem of trafficking in chimpanzees? well, illegal wildlife trade is having a devastating impact on a large number of wild animals and plants for that matter and here i think this investigative reportjust displayed for us graphically how traumatic this illegal wildlife trade is when you're looking at live animals, a beautiful chimpanzee put into illegal trade. it's run by trance national organised criminal gangs. people who are very savvy. they do everything they can to avoid the law. they corrupt people along the way. so i think you've really exposed, you know, how disturbing this illegal trade is and the sort

of measures that these trans national organised gangs go to shift the wildlife across international borders. rebecca, what impact can it have on a chimp's well—being, being ripped from their family at a young age? the impact it can havejust incredible because it affects when it is one or two years old, at that time the mother is the centre of their life. the bond they have established with their mother at that time is so important and the attachment and that means that they love the mother and they see how they kill her in front of them and it affects their personality for the re st of it affects their personality for the rest of their life and it is so difficult to recover interest that trauma that they suffered in that moment. kadu, what are you doing to try to reduce the trafficking of these chimps? we have a conversation

with the bbc for exposing this illegal crime. we have tried to focus on the three areas. we are trying to stop the killing and stop the trafficking and reduce the demand in other countries and we cannot do do any better than looking at the habitats, conservation, looking at communities around the habitats, but also focus on african government and how they can strengthen their laws. africa is losing the species that we need for our devolvement. that's a big issue on the continent. clive, how easy is it to reintegrate a chimp into the wild? it is actually really, really difficult and actually impossible because chimpanzees, if you are trying to reintegrate them into a social group that's already there, they are fend owe phobic, any orphan

that would you would try to put into the group would be killed, you shouldn't bring it anyway because they can bring diseases from the humans. they can never really go back out in the forests and live a full chapl pan ze life again. so they have to be integrated into sanctuary environment then? exactly. exactly. there is i've worked with sanctuaries in eastern congo that provide a really good home for these chimps that really can't go anywhere else. rebecca, yourjob is working with can chimps in the dronk. tell us with can chimps in the dronk. tell us about their life in your sanctuary? -- democratic republic of congo. we need to establish bonding again and especially in this case at the beginning and when he arrived, after within year, it takes a long

time the recovery and until they are ten years old, they cannot have relationships with other chimpanzees. it is a long time. they can live for 70 years and all this time in the sanctuary, it is a long time in the sanctuary, it is a long time for their recovering. john, is it possible to have an international trade in wild animals without threatening their survival? well, this convention that was negotiated backin this convention that was negotiated back in the 1970s distinguished between different animals and plants. it said where an animal or plants. it said where an animal or plant is already threatened with extinction, it should not enter into international commercial trade. it is prohibited as is the case with all great apes. for some other species, they say they are not yet threatened with extinction, but they could become threatened with extinction if we don't strictly regulate the trade and there is

trade in many species, and crocodiles and certain sharks, that's strictly regulated to make sure they don't become threatened with extinction, but with respect to great apes, there is to be no international commercial trade and what you uncovered here was an example, a terrible example of where people are seeking to succumb haven't the international rules prohibiting that trade. i'm grateful for your time. thank you very much for your time. thank you very much for coming on the programme. thank you. on monday we're holding a live audience programme looking at the nhs. we'll be looking at the problems it's facing and asking your help for solutions. if you work in the nhs in whatever role or you're a patient with recent experience, we'd love you to be part of our programme. it's in central london next monday. e—mail victoria@bbc.co.uk to let us know if you're interested and one of our team will be in touch.

we'll be joined by our health editor hugh pym, leading politicians and chief executives of hospitals. we need you, staff and patients of the nhs. a couple of primary schools in england have begun allowing pupils to wear their slippers in class after research found it helps them to get better grades. the study from bournemouth university found children who attend lessons without shoes work harder and behave better. west thornton primary academy in london is one of those schools and they say so far it is working. let's speak to di pumphrey, headteacher at west thornton primary academy, who introduced the policy. and deputy head ayla arli. she's in charge of the shoeless zones in the school. hello both of you. hello. hello. why does having their shoes off mean children learn better? well, i think

the answer to that is that nobody actually knows. it is not one magic silver bullet. what we have been doing over the last four years is really rethinking our approach to learning and teaching and redesigning our spaces so that we actually get the best out of children and their attitudes to learning. shoeless learning isjust one part of that approach that we've taken and we have been doing it for four years. it came about through children deciding for themselves that they have been given a lovely new classroom, open—plan, flexible learning environment to learn in and they wanted to respect it and feel co mforta ble they wanted to respect it and feel comfortable in it and learn better on the different furniture that we had in there and so they took the decision after looking at the research to go shoeless. let me ask... research to go shoeless. let me ask. . . we research to go shoeless. let me ask... we didn't enforce it with them. what difference have you seen, in terms of the pupils performance? well, we have seen a definite change

in behaviour, behaviour is much calmer in the learning zones. the noise levels have gone down. children feel more comfortable and most definitely on the first year that we did the open learning zone which including the shoeless learning, results went out on year—on—year in terms of comparing the cohorts, and we are resilience and working collaboratively and being independent really and that's where they took charge of the learning in terms of choosing to go shoeless. it was their idea. they had to present the data back to us to prove you know that is not a gimmick there, has an impact on learning. i think not all parents di, not all parents are into it. they think it might be scruffy or slobby? i've not had that brought back to me from any of our parents. 0ur back to me from any of our parents. our children decided that this was the way that they were going to go. they presented it to their parents. it was not enforced, but all of our

childrenjust it was not enforced, but all of our children just choose to do that because they feel more comfortable and more relaxed. you're not going to learn well when you are sitting uncomfortably in a chair with shoes on. you just need to relax and think about how you learn at home. think about how you learn at home. think about how you read at home. think about how you read at home. think about you sort of sit there with an ipad on yourlap about you sort of sit there with an ipad on your lap perhaps, something else by your side and you co—ordinate your learning to make it feel comfortable for you. we have not had any negative response from our parents and we wouldn't expect any because they can see it working with our children. thank you, di, thank you aylament thank you for your comments on adoption this morning. yes, really grateful. have a good day. a dreary day across the country. we've got a weather front moving from west to east. slow moving. some heavy rain across northern ireland through this morning, but here it will brighten up as we head in

towards the afternoon, but the heavy rain transferring across much of scotla nd rain transferring across much of scotland where it will be breezy and chilly. for england and wales, low cloud and hill fog, outbreaks of rain, very mild across the south—west. that milder air filtering northwards too. so for tuesday night, it looks like we will see another pulse of rain moving across england and wales. some heavy bursts mixed in too as it continues to trundle north—east wards. here it will be mild and damp, but for scotla nd will be mild and damp, but for scotland and northern ireland, clear spells and mist and fog and chilly as well. for wednesday, we will start off on a grey, wet note for large parts of england and wales, eastern scotland, but that moving away and then i think we will see a window of dry and bright weather through wednesday afternoon. not bad for many before more rain arrives across the west. very mild in the south and not so cool across the north. this is bbc news and these

are the top stories developing at 11: president trump fires the acting us attorney general after she refuses to enforce his immigration ban. a former senior civil servant says theresa may has put the queen in a ‘very difficult‘ position by offering him a state visit so soon. since a date has not been set for the state visit it could perhaps be put off a little bit until things have calmed down. mps will debate the government‘s bill to trigger the formal process of leaving the european union. a french—canadian student appears in court in quebec, charged with the murders of six muslim worshippers —

shot dead at a mosque on sunday. also... calling time on time travel.