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Researching Reform

Researching Reform

Monthly Archives: October 2019

The Buzz

31 Thursday Oct 2019

Posted by Natasha in Researching Reform, The Buzz

≈ 2 Comments

The latest child welfare items that should be right on your radar:

  • ‘France let me keep baby UK wanted to take away’
  • New Judgment: NY (A Child) [2019] UKSC 49. The appeal concerned a father’s application for an order for the immediate return of his daughter from England and Wales to Israel.
  • Research: “Family? … Not Just Blood”: Constructions of “Family” in Adult, Former Foster Children’s Narratives.

Buzz

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Family Court President Warns Journalists Against ‘Unreasonable Stances’ in Latest Guidelines

30 Wednesday Oct 2019

Posted by Natasha in Family Law, Family Law Cases, Researching Reform

≈ 7 Comments

The President of the Family Division, Sir Andrew McFarlane has said that journalists may be asked to pay court costs if their reporting of a case amounts to an “unreasonable stance,” in the latest guidelines on family court reporting.

The guidance does not clarify what might constitute unreasonable reporting.

However, McFarlane also told courts that they should support journalists wishing to report on family law cases.

The guidelines offer a summary of the law around reporting family law cases and explain that permission to attend a family court hearing does not give the attending journalist an automatic right to report on the case. The guidance goes on to outline how journalists can apply for permission to lift the reporting restrictions.

In the guidance, McFarlane says, “Courts should be astute to assist reporters seeking to attend a hearing, or to relax reporting restrictions, and should provide them with relevant contact details of the court office, the judge’s clerk and the parties where requested.”

If the court and the parties to a case cannot agree on whether to allow a journalist to report on a case, the journalist will then have the right to make oral submissions in court. Attending advocates will be required to assist the reporter with the relevant law and procedure that needs to be followed.

Courts deciding on an application to report will still have to carry out the balancing exercise between privacy and transparency, prioritising the best interests of children involved in these cases.

On the point of costs, McFarlane said, ” In seeking to vary/lift reporting restrictions, the standard approach as to costs in children cases will apply and a reporter, media organisation or their 6 lawyers should not be at risk of a costs order unless he or she has engaged in reprehensible behaviour or has taken an unreasonable stance.”

You can read the guidance here.

McFarlane

 

 

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New Legal Duty on Councils to Support Domestic Abuse Survivors

29 Tuesday Oct 2019

Posted by Natasha in Domestic Violence, Researching Reform

≈ 2 Comments

The government has promised to amend the Domestic Abuse Bill so that it includes a provision which places a legal duty on all councils to provide support to domestic abuse survivors.

The new duty is set to come into force in 2021.

The move was confirmed by Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick last week, in a press release on the government’s official website, while also announcing a further £15 million to run the support services in 2020 to 2021.

The Domestic Abuse Bill, which will contain the legal duty, will also include the first ever statutory definition of domestic abuse to specifically include economic abuse and controlling and manipulative non-physical abuse.

The proposed legislation will also create a new Domestic Abuse Commissioner and ban the cross-examination of alleged victims by their alleged abusers in the family courts. This ban is already in place inside the criminal courts.

The government also published its latest report on how the family courts protect children and parents in private law children cases involving domestic abuse and other serious offences. The progress update outlines the review’s objectives, its approach to evidence gathering and the next steps for the review.

The update confirms that the review’s panel members have finished the evidence gathering phase of the project and are now analysing the data with key stakeholders. The panel hopes to produce their final report in the coming months.

Screenshot 2019-10-28 at 18.07.03

 

 

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Mother To Launch Legal Action For Wrongful Removal Of Her Children By Dutch Social Services

28 Monday Oct 2019

Posted by Natasha in Family Law Cases, Researching Reform

≈ Leave a comment

A mother whose children were removed from her care in 2012 is launching a law suit against the Ministry of Justice and Security, the Salvation Army Youth Protection, and the youth protection service of Gelderland province, in the Netherlands.

The mother, Ms Jelena Antonova, alleges that her children were removed from her without any legal justification. She was accused of neglect by social workers, because she spoke Russian to her children instead of Dutch and allegedly tried to alienate the children from their father.

The mother’s case was heard in the Dutch Court of Appeal, which ordered that the children should be returned to her care, but the order was overturned by the Ministry of Justice and Security.

The child welfare proceedings were then highlighted in the European parliament in 2014, where MEPs were shown a video of the two children being taken away from their home, filmed by their brother Ilja Antonova.

Ms Antonova was eventually reunited permanently with her children, Nikolai and Anastasia Antonova, in 2014, after a judge ruled that the children should never have been removed from her care.

The hearing included a report from a family psychologist who said that Ms Antonova had not been guilty of neglect.

The mother was given permission during the hearing to question social workers involved with her children, which revealed several failings in the way the case was handled.

Ms Antonova and her family are now suing the parties for “unlawful and careless removal of the children”, and, “for the damage suffered and to be suffered” by the family.

The case was originally raised by former Telegraph journalist and family court campaigner Christopher Booker, who passed away in July.

Child welfare cases

 

 

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Research Finds Covert Facebook Use Rife Among Family Social Workers

25 Friday Oct 2019

Posted by Natasha in Family Law, Research, Researching Reform

≈ 5 Comments

A new study looking at the way social workers in England use social media to observe parents and children has concluded that covert surveillance is rife among social workers engaging with families.

The study, which was published in September, by academics at the University of Birmingham, England and the University of Auckland in New Zealand, also noted that the proper use of social media within a social work context was largely unknown due in part to confusion around what kinds of investigative powers were available for child welfare professionals.

But a piece by The Times in March confirmed that some British social workers were breaking the law by covertly surveying and accessing private information about service users through platforms like Facebook. The Times referenced a government-funded study also produced by the University of Birmingham which found social workers had used fake profiles to “friend” parents in cases where their posts were not publicly viewable, which is in direct violation of the law. Social workers even watched parents’ relationships and behaviours online to monitor domestic violence and substance abuse.

A research paper from 2017 noted similar patterns among American social workers, with over half of those polled saying it was permissible to search for a client on Facebook.

The new research suggests that social workers using Facebook are set into three categories: those who actively use the platform to spy on families, those adamantly opposed to the practice (through either an inability to use social media or a moral standpoint citing user privacy) and social workers reluctantly drawn into usage by service managers sharing content with them.

The report calls for more clarity on social media use by family professionals, but this call is not the first.

This site originally made the call in 2017, which prompted the President of the Family Division at the time to issue guidelines. Those guidelines were produced by social work regulation body, the Health & Care Professions Council.

However, the published guidance for social workers was limited in scope and did not offer a robust breakdown of the law and what social workers could and could not do in relation to social media searches.

An earlier piece of guidance was issued in 2012 by the British Association of Social Workers, which was also too limited in scope and content.

There is a need for an organisation like the The Nuffield Family Justice Observatory to produce a definitive guide setting out human rights and legal privacy boundaries, as well as proper ethical processes for any social worker thinking about accessing service users’ social media content.

Further Information:

  • My Social Worker Is Stalking Me On Facebook – What Can I Do?
  • Social Workers Spying On Families Are Breaking The Law
  • Social Workers Told To Keep On Posting, In New Social Media Guidance
  • Social Workers To Use Facebook To Track Down Parents In Care Proceedings
  • Over Half Of Social Workers Believe It’s OK To Search For A Client On Facebook

Find Us On Facebook

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The latest

24 Thursday Oct 2019

Posted by Natasha in News, Researching Reform

≈ 3 Comments

Child welfare research, news and more:

  • Research: Key factors and characteristics of successful resource parents who care for older youth (US)
  • Social services worker ‘lied in court to convince judge to remove four children from their parents she claimed took drugs’ (US)
  • Number of Recorded Sexual offences against Northern Ireland children at an ‘all-time high’ (NI)

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TODAY: Westminster Debate on the Sexual Exploitation of Children in Care

23 Wednesday Oct 2019

Posted by Natasha in event, Researching Reform, Westminster Debate

≈ 4 Comments

A Westminster Hall debate on the sexual and criminal exploitation of looked after children takes place today.

The debate, which will be led by Ann Coffey MP and is scheduled for 2.30pm, will focus on the latest report from the APPG for Runaway and Missing Children and Adults and ways to make placements safer for children.

The APPG is asking the government to introduce an Emergency Action Plan to tackle the issue. Key measures the APPG would like to see implemented include funding for councils to develop local provision, including children’s homes and foster placements, as well as  regulation and inspection of semi-independent accommodation.

The APPG’s Chair is Ann Coffey, the MP hosting this afternoon’s debate. The Group has two Vice Chairs, Tim Loughton and Sir Peter Bottomley, while the position of Secretariat for the APPG is held jointly by The Children’s Society and Missing People, who were both paid up to £3,000 for their engagement with the APPG. As of the last AGM (October 2018), the group did not publish an income and expenditure statement.

You can see full details for the APPG on the Register at page 996.

Westminster Hall debates allow MPs to raise local or national issues with a view to receiving a response from a government minister.

The debates are open to the public and are held in the Grand Committee Room, just off Westminster Hall.

Useful links:

  • House of Commons Library – Research Briefing for the debate
  • How to attend Westminster Hall debates
  • Watch the Debate
  • Read a transcript of the debate (usually published a few hours after the event)

Parliament TV

 

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The Buzz

22 Tuesday Oct 2019

Posted by Natasha in Researching Reform, The Buzz

≈ 1 Comment

The latest child welfare items that should be right on your radar:

  • Sale of babies on black market exposed in Russia
  • ‘Dark web’ sting sees 337 child abuse suspects snared in one of biggest investigations ever seen
  • Education Secretary announces new support for adoptive families

Buzz

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Question It!

21 Monday Oct 2019

Posted by Natasha in Question It, Researching Reform

≈ 7 Comments

Welcome to another week.

A letter from a member of the public in Brighton’s Argus newspaper has suggested councils should take seriously overweight children into care, as the phenomenon amounted to child neglect and abuse.

Mike Howard, from Greentree’s Crescent, in Sompting told the Argus that while the measure sounded draconian, it was the only way “to seriously address the problem”, and that Sally Davies, the former Chief Medical Officer for England, had offered a pointless solution to the issue in placing a ban on eating while on public transport.

Mr Howard said:

“A seriously overweight child is prima facia evidence of child neglect by the parents and should be treated as such. Feckless parents, who are clearly neglecting their child’s welfare need to be offered training on health and nutrition, which it would be reasonable to expect them to pay for, followed by a period of monitoring of their child’s health.

If, at the end of this period there is no improvement in the child’s well-being then the possibility of taking the child into care should be  seriously considered.”

Research tells us that children can become overweight for a variety of reasons, including genetics, a lack of physical activity, unhealthy eating patterns, or a combination of these factors. In some cases, becoming overweight can be caused by medical conditions.

Our question this week then, is just this: do you agree with Mr. Howard? 

face_question_mark

 

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Ministers And Children’s Policy – Who’s Who In 2019

18 Friday Oct 2019

Posted by Natasha in child welfare, Researching Reform

≈ 3 Comments

It seems as if Researching Reform is constantly updating this segment, but we feel it’s worth sharing the latest on all things ministerial in child welfare.

Here is the current list of ministers involved in children’s policy, and the new posts the government has created, as well as positions the government has scrapped:

Home Office:

  • Minister of State for Countering Extremism, Baroness Williams of Trafford
  • Minister of State for Immigration, Seema Kennedy MP
  • Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Safeguarding and Vulnerability, Victoria Atkins MP

Ministry Of Justice:

  • Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, Robert Buckland QC MP
  • Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Youth Justice, Victims, Female Offenders and Offender Health – this position no longer exists

Department For Education:

  • Secretary of State for Education and Minister for Women and Equalities – this position no longer exists
  • Minister of State for Universities, Science, Research and Innovation, Chris Skidmore MP
  • Minister of State for School Standards, Nick Gibb MP
  • Minister of State for Children and Families, Kemi Badenoch MP – the position is currently being covered by Michelle Donelan MP, while Kemi is on maternity leave
  • Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for the School System (Unpaid), Lord Nash

Department Of Health & Social Care:

  • Secretary of State for Health, Matt Hancock MP
  • Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Prevention, Public Health and Primary Care, Jo Churchill MP
  • Minister of State for Health, Edward Argar MP
  • Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Mental Health, Suicide Prevention and Patient Safety, Nadine Dorries MP
  • Minister for Care, Caroline Dinenage MP

Department For Work & Pensions:

  • Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Thérèse Coffey MP
  • Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Employment, Mims Davies MP
  • Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work, Justin Tomlinson MP
  • Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Pensions and Financial Inclusion, Guy Opperman MP
  • Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Family Support, Housing and Child Maintenance – this position no longer exists

Department For Digital, Culture, Media And Sport:

  • Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Nicky Morgan

Department For Housing, Communities And Local Government:

  • Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, Robert Jenrick MP
  • Minister of State for Housing, Esther McVey MP
  • Minister for Local Government and Homelessness, Luke Hall MP

For a full breakdown of departments and which ministers head them, click here. 

Child Welfare in 2018A Government Department Breakdown#WhosWho (3)

 

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