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Researching Reform

Researching Reform

Monthly Archives: September 2013

Men as Superheroes, And Other Myths

30 Monday Sep 2013

Posted by Natasha in Research

≈ 10 Comments

We live in a world where men are, sometimes explicitly, expected to be tough and strong all of the time, and sadly women now too, are expected to be nothing short of superhuman, but the reality for both sexes has always rested somewhere in between immortal and not, and now research has confirmed what most of us knew already: humans are, well, human after all.

According to a recent article in Journal of Men’s Health, a new publication which focuses on improving the health of men around the world, divorced men have higher rates of mortality, substance abuse, depression, and lack of social support, all related to psychological and behavioural disorders which can be brought on in men as a result of divorce.

Previous research also highlights the fact that men find it harder to adjust after divorce, although typically they are often better off financially, but it will be interesting to see if that turns on its head in the next twenty years or so, as more and more women take on the role of joint or main breadwinner.

It’s a tough old world out there, but we can have our superheroes and heroines: after all, we need them so; we just need to let their skin breathe under the latex from time to time.

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The Buzz

30 Monday Sep 2013

Posted by Natasha in The Buzz

≈ 12 Comments

As government goes into Busy Bee overdrive, more statistics are revealed, which show the sharp rise in adoptions for 2012, and the very positive spin that’s being put on the thing. We’ll make not comment on that for now, but the stats are interesting and very much worth a read. The Fostering Network too has lots of great comment on how the government is doing in relation to children in foster care and care leavers, too:

  • Latest Stats on Children in Care, Adoptions and More, from the Department of Education (why can’t we have a Department for Child Welfare – we’d like that. Maybe one day, if we become civil servants…)
  • 51,000 children living with foster families in England – and rising…
  • Government fails care leavers re Housing –  just 330 young people in England were still living with their foster carers by the age of 19.

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Children’s Mental Health in the 21st Century – a Barometer We Can’t Ignore

30 Monday Sep 2013

Posted by Natasha in Children, Research

≈ 7 Comments

We are supposed to be a First World Country, whatever that means, with all its offensive undertones, and yet our children continue to suffer the consequences. The UK is still woefully poor when it comes to meeting child welfare standards across the board (think UN targets and embarrassing results in the tackling of child poverty) and it seems that our children’s mental health is now taking a whack.

The National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) estimates that 80,000 children in the UK are now suffering with depression, and that children as young as five are suffering with the condition.

Hop on over to Young Minds, and their stats on Mental Health and kids is just as depressing:

  • 1 in 10 children and young people aged 5 – 16 suffer from a diagnosable mental health disorder – that is around three children in every class (1).
  • Between 1 in every 12 and 1 in 15 children and young people deliberately self-harm (2)
  • There has been a big increase in the number of young people being admitted to hospital because of self harm. Over the last ten years this figure has increased by 68% (3).
  • More than half of all adults with mental health problems were diagnosed in childhood. Less than half were treated appropriately at the time (4).
  • Nearly 80,000 children and young people suffer from severe depression (5).
  • Over 8,000 children aged under 10 years old suffer from severe depression (6).
  • 72% of children in care have behavioural or emotional problems – these are some of the most vulnerable people in our society (7).
  • 95% of imprisoned young offenders have a mental health disorder. Many of them are struggling with more than one disorder (8).
  • The number of young people aged 15-16 with depression nearly doubled between the 1980s and the 2000s (9).
  • The proportion of young people aged 15-16 with a conduct disorder more than doubled between 1974 and 1999 (10).

(Their website offers a more detailed breakdown of the stats, unfortunate pun not intended).

But the 80,000 figure stat is nothing new – check Young Minds’ source for their figure of the same and you can see it comes from a  2005 report entitled Mental health of children and young people in Great Britain 2004. So what gives?

If we are going to assume that depression in children on this scale has been known to our government since 2005, that’s eight years, it really begs the question, why on Earth is this not being addressed immediately?

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Question It!

30 Monday Sep 2013

Posted by Natasha in Question It

≈ 10 Comments

This morning’s question comes from a highly unusual set of events, which stem around the notion of what is deemed appropriate territory when it comes to probing families in matters of divorce.

A dispute over contact in New York recently led one lawyer in court to make an inference about the mother involved, in a rather controversial way. The lawyer, who was acting for the father, was asked to investigate the mother’s medical records to confirm an abortion she had, had in fact taken place. The father then instructed the lawyer to bring the abortion to the attention of the court. The lawyer for the mother objected, but she was overruled by the judge overseeing the hearing.

Women’s groups were outraged by the court’s questioning in this case, with some taking the view it took women’s rights a step back and that it inferred women who had abortions were not good mothers and were viewed as unfit to parent. But some research suggests that abortion can cause depression and affect women after the procedure.

So, what do you think – Should the court be allowed to make inferences from an abortion or should some things remain out of bounds?

Over to you….

face_question_mark

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Best of The Rest

30 Monday Sep 2013

Posted by Natasha in News

≈ Leave a comment

Conservative states, a desperate attempt at death and an ultimatum even a lawyer might regret – just a few news items making the rounds this morning:

  • Woman asks State of Mississippi to recognise her out-of-state, same-sex marriage
  • Man used Heroin to try to kill 4-year-old son, after divorce, police say
  • Saudi man divorces his wife using What’s App, remorse sets in, but judge seals the deal

news12

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One To One – Radio 4 on Fatherhood

26 Thursday Sep 2013

Posted by Natasha in Children

≈ 1 Comment

A big thank you to Bob Grieg over at Only Dads for alerting us to this programme, which has been produced by BBC Radio 4 and is entitled, as we mentioned above “One to One”.

The programme, which is going to be a series of programmes in two parts, will be looking at fatherhood and is part of the One to One series.

Next Tuesday, Bob will be featured on One to One, as he talks with Pallab Ghosh about being a father to two daughters (lovely daughters, we might add).

Well worth a listen.

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Best Of The Rest

26 Thursday Sep 2013

Posted by Natasha in News

≈ 7 Comments

New stories and updates making the rounds on the web, at the moment, which we thought might be of interest:

  • Russia considers making divorce an expensive affair as deterrent: not much to say about this, except watch co-habitation in this country explode if this ill-conceived policy comes to fruition
  • The latest amendments proposed for the Children and Families Bill
  • Children being exploited through on-line gaming: a little like the way supermarkets used to place sweets at the checkout tills… (until they were banned from doing so)

News

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Matrimonial Survey 2012

24 Tuesday Sep 2013

Posted by Natasha in Family Law

≈ 2 Comments

We came across this interesting report by Grant Thornton, which appears to have been published on 13th September of this year, and which focuses on the actual and perceived impact of the Family Procedure Rules 2010, co-habiting couples and case-law, and the impact of alternative dispute resolution on separating couples. The report helpfully compares the data from their 2011 survey.

There are some statistics of note:

  • Much like our US counterparts, the main reason cited in divorce proceedings was falling out of love, with extra marital affairs a close second
  • Most marriages last between 11 and 20 years
  • Most lawyers questioned in the survey wanted to see increased protection for cohabiting couples, closely followed by the introduction of no fault divorce
  • 42% of those asked felt that co-habiting couples should not get the same rights as married couples (and a further 15% said No, subject to certain conditions)
  • The use of collaborative law is on the rise

It’s worth a quick gander.

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Foster Carers as Kin Paid Less than Non Relatives – Court Rules Unlawful

24 Tuesday Sep 2013

Posted by Natasha in Children, Family Law

≈ 2 Comments

In what appears to be an as yet un-published judgment (which we hope will be published in due course, but if we have made a mistake, please do tell us), the Court of Appeal have upheld a foster carer’s case against a local authority which refused to pay her the same amount as a non-relative would be paid, to care for her nephews and her niece.

The claimant foster carer applied for judicial review of the local authority’s payment policies and was granted the review, with the judge agreeing that the policies were unlawful. 

The Court of Appeal held that the local authority’s policies and subsequent actions were unlawful based on the fact of discrimination as between related and non-related carers.

The local authority’s appeal was therefore dismissed.

We have not researched this area, but we were fascinated by this case and wondered how many LA’s out there are discriminating in this way. Is it a large-scale nationwide phenomenon, or an isolated incident? Given that Tower Hamlets is a large borough, we have a feeling others may be doing the same.

What this case does illustrate however, is just how malevolent fostering policy can become. The discrepancy in pay looks to us at least, to be playing on the sentiment that foster carers who are related to the children they care for are less likely to object to being paid lesser sums because of the emotional pull in the situation; an already existing attachment and, arguably, a sense of duty. An economic calculation by government, no doubt, but one with a chilling consequence for children in care. In this case at least, the policy appears to be geared towards the notion that payment is assessed by looking at different classes of carers. And here we must be careful, because we are not even talking about distinctions based on ability or qualifications; if we were, one could argue that those carers who are related to the children being cared for should be paid more – precisely because they are more likely to understand these children better and could potentially offer more tailored support for those children.

But shouldn’t payment be assessed on the individual needs of each child, rather than a terribly apartheid-like class system of carers, if we must focus on money in foster care, which in the real world undoubtedly we must, as children require caring in a material sense, too? This of course, does already happen in practice, but a more efficient system would require a much more sophisticated assessment process, and one which could go horribly wrong, in the wrong hands. Still, we need to shift the focus away from offensive divisions like the one this case highlights.

(Notification of this decision was published in the brilliant Appeal Tracker service by LexisPSL).

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Study Shows Biggest Reason For Divorce Is ‘Unreasonable Behavior’ – But Does It Miss The No-Fault Politics At Play?

23 Monday Sep 2013

Posted by Natasha in Research

≈ 9 Comments

This just in: a new study from America shows that ‘unreasonable behaviour’ accounts for 47% of all US divorce petitions filed, compared to just 28% in the 1980’s.

But the report seems to miss out one, we feel rather important factor, when assessing the meaning of this increase – are we really looking at just an increase in unreasonable behaviour and a shift in attitudes and priorities, or are lawyers, law courts and legal policy part of the cause of the rise in this trend?

In the UK certainly, most couples going through a divorce will be advised by lawyers to prepare what are called ‘anodyne petitions’ – petitions where the factual content in the statement section detailing the reasons for divorce are kept as ‘friendly’ and non-contentious as possible. Why do they do this? Because it’s supposed to keep the process simple, and because current court culture requires it. (Make of that last sentiment what you will – we rather suspect that the practice of keeping things anodyne was borne out of a need to reduce delay in the courts rather than spare couples the indignity of proving their pain, but perhaps we are being uncharitable).

Separating couples will also be advised to tick the ‘unreasonable behaviour’ box, rather than perhaps the adultery box or any other (alleged conduct permitting), so as to avoid a messier, more drawn-out and often increasingly traumatic process of proving and processing other types of behaviour listed in the current set of grounds for divorce – and because the courts in England and Wales are unlikely to punish spouses who have exhibited behaviour listed under those grounds. Judges simply don’t arbitrate fault any more, even though our system still plays host to the mechanism for it.

It’s the closest thing to No Fault Divorce, something US states are already picking up on, and which we feel may be having an impact on studies like these.

So, perhaps this shift away from adultery says less about the couples coming before the courts and more about the system, and whilst this study was based on US divorce petitions, we’re willing to bet that unreasonable behaviour as a ground for divorce is on the rise here, too.

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