A former leading family court psychiatrist who stepped down from his role after facing serious misconduct allegations, has criticised Britain’s child social care system on a US radio show.
George Hibbert came to the public’s attention in 2012 when news outlets reported concerning unethical conduct allegations from work colleagues, and parents he treated at his clinic in Tadpole Cottage.
The allegations included deliberately producing biased reports for councils who then used those reports to take children from mothers, and put them up for adoption.
Hibbert stepped down from his practice shortly after the allegations were brought to the media’s attention in what was viewed at the time as a bid to avoid being investigated. However, he underwent an investigation by the General Medical Council in 2014, which set aside the allegations due to a lack of evidence.
In what appeared to be an attempt at trying to exact revenge on the mothers who testified against him as service users of his clinic at Tadpole Cottage, Hibbert then tried to become an intervenor in the lead mother’s case in order to make her private medical records and other documents public. The application was thrown out by the family courts.
Following his decision to step down from practice Hibbert has since tried to launch several projects including an evidence storing app for parents going through children’s social care proceedings called On Record which could allow Hibbert and his partner Jill Canvin, a former family law solicitor, to access potentially sensitive and confidential information about parents’ and children’s cases.
Researching Reform reached out to Hibbert and Canvin in 2018 to ask them about the app, but they refused to answer any of our questions which included how the app had been funded, how many service users the app had, and whether or not they had access to users’ confidential files and documents.
In an apparent effort to plug the On Record app, Hibbert and Canvin appeared on an online US radio talk show called Dads Surviving Divorce (DSD) in December 2020, which describes itself on its YouTube channel as “focused on helping people survive when divorcing a narcissistic ex when kids are involved.”
The talk show host seems completely unaware of Canvin and Hibbert’s professional pasts, and of Hibbert’s serious misconduct hearing at the GMC.
The segment for the radio show featuring Hibbert and Canvin is entitled, “Proving your case in the UK ft. George Hibbert & Jill Canvin,” and includes discussions about personality disorders, social services and the couple’s On Record app.
During the interview Hibbert questions the quality of social work in Britain, while Canvin criticises judicial bias inside the system. Neither Hibbert or Canvin address any of the malpractice allegations made against Hibbert during his professional career or why he chose to step down after the GMC hearing.
Many thanks to Janie Doe for alerting us to this development.
Researching Reform 
They are definitely not the only corrupt people from within the system. Falsified reports against mothers is alarmingly common.
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Hibbert is not the only one who falsified documents for social services to remove children from their parents. Unfortunately others have not yet had the spotlight put on them. What bothers me is that “professionals” are allowed to step down or retire & all charges are dropped & they move on unscathed, leaving damaged families in their wake.
However criticism of the child protection system is warranted as its not fit for purpose & the latest publicised case of Arthur (RIP).
Despite all the red flags social services did not deem intervention necessary & was blind to what was happening.
On Good Morning Britain, I heard the Director of Child Protection appearing to blame Arthur’s Grandmother for not doing more. The Grandmother, just one of the people who alerted social services to Arthur’s plight was criticised for not taking him to the doctor which would have sparked a multi agency referral. Talk about trying to deflect blame & responsibility!
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Just reading the comments here too .. I agree that professionals can really push away or deflect from their own staff/team’s liability… It’s up to authorities to make adequate checks including on a child’s body, weight and demeanor .. ..
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He keeps turning up like a bad penny, doesn’t he?
No shame, no conscience, no explanations, no answers. Just hectoring on the wrongs of others. We will not forget him. You can run, Mr.Hibbert, but you can’t hide!
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People like Hibbert could not function if the courts stopped taking children for future risks (which seldom happen).The system went wrong when the Children Act 1989 decided that children should not only be taken if suffering significant harm but also if they were likely to suffer it ! This opened the door to countless so called experts like Hibbert to foretell doom if children were left with parents they diagnosed as potential child abusers .
If only they concentrated on removing children who were suffering or who had already suffered harm and left future predictions to Gypsy Rose Lee on the fairground with crystal ball and tarot cards ! She at least has been doing it all her life and probably gets it right half the time but social workers and psys should stop trying to predict the future ;Those that are stil overconfident that the can predict the future based on past results could no doubt make fortunes at the local betting shops !
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So true! While the social workers focus is on the wrong children, the children in real desperation needlessly die. They need to forget their tick boxes & algorithms for potential harm & open their eyes & learn to listen. Really listen. If social workers had attempted to remove Arthur from his dad & girlfriend would they have been bothered? That would be very telling.
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Reblogged this on tummum's Blog.
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I have asked some questions on the radio talk show 2 days ago. No response yet.
This was a big story 🕊️🦋 Xxxx
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