This month for our column over at Jordans Family Law, we discuss the history of the Voice of the Child as a movement inside the family justice system, and ask the fundamental question: what measures are in place so that children can be understood once their voices are heard?
In the article we take a look at how the Voice of the Child as a movement within the system has evolved and what can be done to ensure that their voices are amplified without unnecessary adult filters.
You can catch the article here.
Researching Reform 
Last week I was in court for contact to bring my daughter home from foster care(as they say it) taken in a corrupt unlawfull way which I can prove.My daughter telling gaurdian she wants to see mammy more and go home,but then the gaurdian gives her opinion and says less.SW false allegations proven,ISO where’s the voice of the child in all this,and why ask her if you are not going to listen to what my daughter wants,but a gaurdian who is NO voice of the child
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Hi there, thank you for your post. I’ve had to remove your name for legal reasons but I’m sorry about your’s and your daughter’s experience.
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I write with experience from the research of many years and of speaking to the children and adults from and in care and this is exactly how it works and no matter how many laws are passed for a child to be heard it will not happen.
Kids in care are told by the social workers Cafcass and their own lawyers what they must say and do especially on a contact with the familiy, should they speak out they lose contact with the family, children who have tried to speak out of abuse and there is an investigation, that child has to return to the abusers untill the investigation has finished, it is as Cafcass said all kids in care are liars and none know what they want. If that child is questioned by the court or who ever that child knows that to have spoken truth they are still returned in FEAR to the abusers. Do remember every child in care stands alone surrounded by an army of do-gooders and even the advocates are from charities or the social workers own companies do you think any of them will allow a child to speak out NO, most kids in care live in fear, if people did their home work they would know not many kids in care have unsupervised contact as for the social workers they really do rule the families and the kids in care by telling them what they can say and do even to the facts of making families sign contracts of do and donts and then the social services have the front to say Maggie Tuttle refers to the social services as Nazism well well so who is ruling the people en-mass take into account if there are more than 100.000 kids in care how many millions of close families are there in England Scotland and Wales with no contact and do remember Mr Hitler ALLOWED Mr Himmler to organise and set up the SS to rule the families and kids it was known as the Lebensborn project.
The children in the UK will always remain “children screaming to be heard” the silent witnesses here lies the truth.
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I have been thinking long and hard over this one.
Having had various conversations with Father’s Rights contact groups over the last week or so, it is becoming alarming obvious what is not happening. Rights of the children.
As a child of warring parents, as a warring parent myself, I have compared the two situations both as a😰 mother and child, my voice in the latter was never heard. I gave my two children a voice, they were listened to. They did not want to see me.
Warring parents have become a faction. Children’s needs are not being meet which must hold the glue together. What on earth has happened to the Children’s Act 1989? Rather than simply looking at voices of children, are we ever going to blow the dust from this act already in place to ensure children are protected?
Sadly, in Family Law, parents from what I am seeing lately, are intent on the criminalisation of the other parent, and it is proven children wit parents in prison suffer mental health problems and substance misuse. All I see and have experienced in the majority of my life is one parent throwing hot pokers at each other with the child/children ducking to avoid getting burnt. This drowns out their needs and their voices.
Time we grew up.
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Thank you for your thoughts, T. Yes, crime is the big go-to box we want to put everything in these days, but our understanding, science and data in the 21st century are pulling us the other way. I really hope the latter wins out.
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I hope so, Natasha.
Children of parents who are in the Criminal Justice System are marginalized further and their voices are never heard. Chris Grayling has alienated children from the parents we have in prison now, with his prohibition on sending in parcels.
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Great to see one of the paintings by the Russian artist living in England – Albina Kumirova – being used as the banner here.
People can contact her through FaceBook and order prints of any of her paintings – these pictures speak a thousand words….
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Thanks for the infomercial Tom, I did link up to Albina’s pages in my Image of the Month post 😉
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How many children really have their voices heard?
With over 92,000 looked after children in the UK in 2013 why has it taken so long for the UK to research the abuse of children in care?
http://www.nspcc.org.uk/Inform/resourcesforprofessionals/lookedafterchildren/statistics_wda88009.html
The Careleavers Association has articles covering The History of Past Abuse
Uncovering The Past Abuse of Children in Care
http://www.careleavers.com/abuse/history
“Given the scale of hidden abuse revealed by the inquiries, the priorities of the committee are questionable. No one wants to see falsely accused people put in prison. However, we already know from the inquiry reports that hundreds of children, at the very least, had been seriously abused in the care system and that this had been hidden for, in many cases, decades. Wouldn’t the committee have made a much better use of its time trying to understand why police and professionals had failed to protect so many young people from such crimes over such a long period?”
This paper “Who Do we Trust? The Abuse of Children Living Away from Home in the United Kingdom written by Andrew Kendrick was presented to the 12th International Congress on Child Abuse and Neglect; Protecting Children: Innovation and Inspiration, ISPCAN – International Society for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect, Auckland, 6-9 September 1998
http://homepages.strath.ac.uk/~zns01101/ispcan.htm
It highlighted the lack of research about the abuse of kids in care.
In 2012 Channel 4 did a documentary highlighting abuse in foster care. http://www.channel4.com/news/how-the-law-is-failing-victims-of-foster-parent-abuse
The findings were that no one knew the true scale of abuse. The only bit of research appeared to be: http://php.york.ac.uk/inst/spru/research/summs/allegations.php
Maltreatment and Allegations of Maltreatment in Foster Care. A Review of the Evidence
Nina Biehal and Elizabeth Parry September 2010 Working Paper No. WP 2437
The last paragraph stated, “This review has therefore highlighted a number of outstanding questions. It remains unclear how many carers experience allegations of abuse and what proportion of these allegations are subsequently substantiated. It is also unclear how many looked after children make allegations of maltreatment and in what circumstances they do so. …….There is therefore a need for a UK study of the extent and nature of maltreatment, and allegations of maltreatment, in foster care and of the circumstances in which these occur.
Fast Forward to 2014 …..and the researcher Nina Biehal was again part of the team that reviewed the same topic Maltreatment in foster care: a review of the evidence
This article examines the evidence on maltreatment in foster care, drawing on a critical review of research published in the USA, the UK and Australia. Few studies have reported on the extent of maltreatment in this setting and the evidence that does exist is inconclusive. The limited available evidence suggests that maltreatment may be reported for up to two per cent of children in foster care in any one year, but much depends on the definitions used and on local variation in thresholds for investigation. The article discusses the perpetrators and nature of this maltreatment and problems with substantiation, and highlights important gaps in the existing research.
Another piece of research: Keeping Children Safe: Allegations concerning the abuse or neglect of children in care
Concluded “The care system generally provides a safe environment for children,
and many children and young people say that they think that their
care is good ( see, for example, Wade et al., 2011a, Biehal et al.,
2010). Despite the efforts of social workers and other professionals to
remove children from abusive environments, there is nevertheless a
risk that they may inadvertently place them at risk of abuse or neglect
within the care system. We know a little about the sexual exploitation
of looked after children by adults external to the placement, about
abuse during contact with family members and about physical and
sexual abuse between peers (Farmer and Pollock, 1998; Barter, 2003;
Sinclair et al, 2005). We also know quite a lot about historic abuse in
residential care. However, we know very little about the extent and
nature of abuse or neglect by adult caregivers in foster and residential
care today. This is the focus of this study. Only by understanding the
nature of the problem can we address it. Understanding more about
allegations and confirmed abuse or neglect is critical to supporting and
protecting both looked after children and those caregivers who are the
subject of unfounded allegations.”
The latest piece of research (2014) states one in every hundred children living in care is abused every year in Britain. In residential care the rate of substantiated abuse claims is significantly higher than for foster families, with an average of between two and three proven cases per 100 children according to the most comprehensive study conducted into the issue.
The research by York University and the NSPCC is the first of its kind to uncover and analyse local authority records on abuse in foster and residential care.
It should be noted that the researchers put in freedom of information requests to Britain’s 211 local authorities on allegations of abuse in care and only had responses from 156. That means information was not forthcoming from 55 local authorities, that’s 25%!
“More than 60 per cent of abuse victims in care are girls and the mean age of victims is nine. More than half of all substantiated allegations related to under-nines. Of those affected by a proven incident, 45 per cent were removed immediately from care, but almost a quarter remained where they were”.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/major-study-reveals-true-scale-of-abuse-of-children-living-in-care-9587244.html
No! The child’s voice is not being heard! This is just the tip of the iceberg!
The government is still not addressing that it may be better to keep a child within its own family rather than place the child in the care system where he/she is exposed to more danger!
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Yes, it’s never looked terribly good as a prospect, but let’s see. I’ve noticed some new political figures getting involved, which may help.
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