Legal Aid Restrictions For Domestic Violence Survivors Ruled Unlawful

22 Monday Feb 2016

Posted by Natasha in Domestic Violence, Researching Reform

In a ground breaking judgment, the Court of Appeal has ruled that the current restrictions to legal aid for survivors of domestic abuse are unlawful and has allowed an appeal to look at the restrictions in more detail.

Devastating cuts to legal aid have been a worrying trend within child protection and the family justice system for a while, so this judgment will offer some comfort in an area of family justice which has suffered considerably as a result of the restrictions.

The judgment which was published on 18th February, 2016, confirms that Regulation 33, which sets down a list of documents victims of domestic violence have to produce in order to qualify for legal aid, is effectively restricting access to justice. Many victims of domestic violence simply cannot gather the evidence required to access legal aid for their cases. This is in part due to the nature of domestic violence – victims often conceal their injuries and feel too frightened to admit themselves to hospital or alert authorities when they are attacked, as this could incite more violence from their partners. Abuse also leaves deep psychological wounds, which often leave victims unable to seek help, sometimes for years.

The Public Law Project, who brought the case on behalf of Rights Of Women, has an excellent summary of the judgment on their website.

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Have Parents Become The Enemy In Social Work?

22 Monday Feb 2016

Posted by Natasha in child welfare, Researching Reform, social services

≈ 15 Comments

In an insightful and interesting article in Community Care, Maggie Mellon, Vice Chair for the British Association Of Social Workers has expressed the view that current child protection practices and the culture inside the system are cause for concern. And we couldn’t agree more.

In the piece, Maggie says:

“I believe that suspicion of parents and of families has become corrosive, and is distorting the values of our profession..

Despite there being no significant rise in the number of children who die as a result of parental abuse or neglect, risk of abuse is assumed to be high…

What does this say about how social workers view parents and families? And, just as importantly, what must it tell us about how parents view contact with social services? I believe that the evidence is mounting of mutual distrust and fear.”

This view very much matches what we have seen over the last decade assisting families and children throughout the process. The child protection process itself is not sophisticated enough to factor in all elements present when a family comes to the attention of social services, and one of our main bug bears here at Researching Reform is the level of training social workers are given to carry out a job which requires a far wider, and deeper understanding than basic training allows.

The article also references research by researchers and academics, Lauren Devine and Stephen Parker, whose work we think is robust and progressive, and very helpfully highlights the key issues surrounding child protection in practice.

Maggie identifies a lack of empathy, support and compassion within social work today, another observation to be applauded, as it is so rife, and causes unnecessary pain and suffering for families and children involved in child protection investigations.

So what do you think? Do you agree with Maggie?

Question It!

22 Monday Feb 2016

Posted by Natasha in Question It, Researching Reform

≈ 3 Comments

Welcome to another week.

The government has just launched a consultation to seek out a new definition for Child Sexual Exploitation, with a view to streamlining existing definitions into one so that all professionals are working to the same principles.

The government’s proposed definition is:

‘Child sexual exploitation is a form of child abuse. It occurs where anyone under the age of 18 is persuaded, coerced or forced into sexual activity in exchange for, amongst other things, money, drugs/alcohol, gifts, affection or status. Consent is irrelevant, even where a child may believe they are voluntarily engaging in sexual activity with the person who is exploiting them. Child sexual exploitation does not always involve physical contact and may occur online.’

The government proposes to bring the revised definition into effect on 1 April 2016 and will include it within the statutory guidance, ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children’.

The consultation is looking to seek views on 2 proposals:

Revising the current statutory definition of child sexual exploitation
Including the revised definition in the statutory guidance Working Together to Safeguard Children (2015)

The consultation is for:

local authority chief executives
directors of children’s services
chief constables
local safeguarding childrens board chairs and partners
senior managers within organisations who commission and provide services for children and families, including social workers and professionals from health services, adult services, the police, academy trusts, education, youth justice services and the voluntary and community sector who have contact with children and families

Our question to you then, is just this: do you think the government’s proposed definition is good enough and if not, what would your definition be?

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