A petition created by “I Want My Mummy” (IWMM), a not for profit organisation providing support for vulnerable people and survivors of abuse is calling on the government to open up the Family Courts.
Often accused of being shrouded in secrecy, the Family Courts have been heavily criticised over the last decade for its failure to strike the right balance between protecting families’ and children’s rights as they go through these courts, and the appropriate level of accountability for poor practice and wrongdoing inside the system.
IWMM’s Executive Director Zoe Dronfield set up the petition, which has garnered nearly 3,000 signatures. The petition sets out ten recommendations which it invites the government to take up:
Recommendation 1: Open the civil family court to scrutiny and allow an independent third party ombudsman to investigate claims of unjust rulings.
Recommendation 2: Family court to be evidential to include a domestic violence or victim advocate for survivors including child survivors.
Recommendation 3: The Government to ensure that there is independent follow-up after a court ruling to ensure that it was successful. To be measured by improved experiences for the family.
Recommendation 4: The Government to consider linking criminal and family court proceedings for unified working.
Recommendation 5: The Government to consider creating a new Serial Perpetrator Register which can be accessed by family court for history of domestic abuses.
Recommendation 6: The Government and Ministry of Justice to ensure the adherence to clear and consistent procedure for applications brought to the family court.
Recommendation 7: The Government and Ministry of Justice to ensure DBS checks for all applicants and to be properly considered at the initial and closing stages of applications before the family court.
Recommendation 8: Perjury in the family court to be thoroughly investigated and consistently treated as a criminal offence.
Recommendation 9: The Government to consider that gagging orders do not resolve lack of safe transparency and scrutiny. They often silence the victim of injustice.
Recommendation 10: CAFCASS reporters and officials, social workers and other court-appointed experts be held accountable for errors and misleading information.
IWMM has Researching Reform’s full support on this petition, and the recommendations it sets out. If you’d like to sign the petition, you can do so here.
Many thanks to Zoe for getting in touch and sharing the petition with us. 
Researching Reform 
is this a new petition or has it been on a while ?
when i went on it had no Sign button.
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I was able to sign it…
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THE BIBLE STATES MAN WILL DESTROY ITS SELF
people of the world tell me some thing Knew British child abuse in every way has been going on for untold 100s of years and child abuse will continue, the police have to do as they are told and shut up and we have the Hitler’s SS who is an army to its self, with many social workers working illegally it is the same with the education system they have to shut up, as for the family courts they will never change, to much corruption and money and remember Government use to sell our kids to Australia and Canada and other countries, for me seeing is believing and not what the system does all hear say, remember we the nation are the plebs, how can a Government allow babies to be sexually abused, no child in so called Britain is safe unless your parents are in Government, SO ON WITH THE CLONING OF THE ELITE and death to the plebs,
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Judgements should be more planned out too (with a plan b) to account for potential adoption breakdown for instance in the near future (within 6 months), then to account for (where contact is allowed between natural parent and child who is adopted) when the adopted child does not want their adoptive parent(s) to know where a judge has court ordered it and when plans for end of life treatment gets defeated when a child proves doctors wrong and survives longer than what was presumed (if this has not happened already) Just some examples from off the top of my head. Also where risks of harm mentioned in thresholds later prove to not be proved, they should be amended accordingly with transparency given for what led professionals to their conclusion in the first place. Transparency should be key always xx
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Many children will be saying ‘I want my Daddy’ too. This is not a gender issue. Having said that, I agree with all the demands made by the petition and have signed.
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Most Parents are honest clean and loving, but all of these so called court and children’s experts tell the most outrageous lies, the governments courts and judges will only believe the so called experts in a child’s best interest, it is so degrading when accused of being an alcoholic and drug addict with a gagging order and told you speak out you will go to prison for 7 years if you speak out, well here’s a joke if you sexually abuse a child or a paedophile you may go to prison for 5 years, what a joke.
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Thats because the threat of Jail for 7yrs was complete nonsense but they know most people will swallow it and keep quiet and comply with their demands. its nothing more than a Poker game of bluff.
we have heard of a number of people who have been sent to prison for speaking out during court proceedings etc and they usually only get a month or two in jail. Not years.
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Sign the petition, Maggie, and have faith . . . . .
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Have signed it
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Well meaning petition but wooly and ineffectual.For example “Government to consider ” changes nothing” and “measuring improved situations for the family” could mean anything at all or nothing !
I prefer:-
1:-No Punishment without Crime. Children must never be removed for simple “risk” (of something that may never happen)
Children must never be considered for removal from their parents unless a parent has been convicted in a criminal court of a serious crime against a child or children.If a parent is charged with such a crime the child or children may be removed temporarily but returned if the parent is acquitted.Parents of foreign children taken into care or placed for adoption should be deported with their children to their home country if that is their choice made to keep their families together.
2:- Parents and children must never be legally gagged
Restore absolute freedom of speech and public protest as already exists in the USA;. Parents must be allowed to identify themselves and protest via the media if their children are taken from them.When children are in care they should be allowed free discussion with relatives and friends,and given mobile phones if of an age when they can use one.They should be allowed to speak their own language (if foreign) to parents and others.All allegations of abuse in care should be investigated by police and never ignored.Parents must have the right to call their own children to court as their witnesses (Article 6 human rights act ) irrespective of age.
3:-Always allow some form of contact between non criminal parents and children..
Parents not guilty of crimes against children must never be deprived of face to face contact with their children; but even if they have been convicted of such crimes (providing those offences do not include child sexual relations or violence towards their own children) they should then still be allowed to initiate indirect contact by phone,email,or post . Non molestation orders should only have effect if a parent molests a partner ,spouse or child ;To molest =to intentionally harass or annoy (Oxford dictionary) and must not extend to legal prevention of indirect contact.
4:-Abolish forced adoption !
Forced adoption = adoption despite active opposition from parents via the courts and other forms of protest.The UK is the only country in the world in which babies can be taken at birth for “risk of future emotional abuse” and then forcibly adopted despite law abiding mothers begging to keep them !.
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Reblogged this on | truthaholics and commented:
At root is the morally bankrupt policy of COMMODITISING children for corporate profit. Abolish this and you cut off the head of the snake for good.
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Reblogged this on World4Justice : NOW! Lobby Forum..
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I think this is a berry good idea.ours and our children’s voices are ignored in court.and devotions made to hastily without proper evidence.our children are suffering been taken from there primary care givers and it’s wrong.the harm that’s done from removal is there always.a total reform needs to happen
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The bias had shown in the case of Alfie Evans and ultimately no compassion and total disregard to the fact the child had survived for days at end after ventilator switch off,It showed that he encouraged and supported the death as a punishment
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I sign as know first hand how corrupt the system is & have been present when false informatiin given in family court by so called professionals.
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The ventilator was switched off but if no arrangement for feeding was made I suppose Alfie died of thirst and malnutrition………….
What a disgrace that the parents were forbidden to take their son to Italy .and what law prevented them???????????
And what a horrible hypocritical old judge pronouncing that “Alfie deserved peace and privacy for his final days” when of course Alfie would have had no knowledge of either at any time.
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I agree, its a disgrace how they could do such a thing. the rest of the world must be thinking what a Cruel System we live under.
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Signed and hopefully brought to debate please
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It is with much regret, and sorrow for the abused children, and outrage towards those institutions that claim to protect children through the courts, that there has been a disturbing deterioration in the behaviour of some courts, such that, since last writing on these pages, children continue to suffer physical, mental, emotional and psychological harm, contrary to what the institutions claim. The family court secrecy laws make it impossible for independent persons to inform the courts ( notwithstanding that judges actually block evidence of child abuse entering their court ) and demonstrate perjury, bribery, collusion, forgery, threats and blackmail. Throughout this, children are being harmed, and ‘the system’ does not allow for the child abuses to be stopped. CAFCASS are equal in this regard. Another development since last writing is the reinforcement of the police policy of not stepping in to prevent or stop child abuses whilst a Family Court case is ongoing. South Yorkshire Police is an example. The Courts and Police are to uphold and administer the law, they are not above it, as two chief constables, a crime commissioner, and two judges would have us believe. Nor does the fact that ongoing child abuse during protracted Family Court proceedings escapes prosecution, as each institution turns its back on the children being abused. There needs to be a change in the law such that evidence of abuse, especially video, audio, photographic and transcriptions with witnesses, can be brought into the court without the holder of the evidence being imprisoned.
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NO punishment without crime would cover all the above
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