These are the latest child welfare items that should be right on your radar:

• Genomics study diagnoses thousands of children with rare disorders (UK)
• Arizona court upholds clergy privilege in child abuse case (US)
• Florida lawmakers pursue death penalty in child rapes (US)

These are the latest child welfare items that should be right on your radar:

• Calls for Wales child services review in the wake of 2 year-old Lola James murder (Wales)
• Social care worker had sex with teenage boy in her care (England)
• Records discovered in hospital basement shed light on forced adoptions (Australia)

A new document published by the head of the family courts in England and Wales sets out litigants’ right to receive support from Independent Domestic Violence Advisers (IDVA) and Independent Sexual Violence Advisers (ISVA) before, during and after a hearing.

The guidance is set out in full below:

1. This guidance applies to family proceedings in the Court of Appeal (Civil
   Division), the High Court of Justice and the Family Court. It is issued as
   guidance (not as a practice direction) by the President of the Family Division,
   as Head of Family Justice. It is issued in light of the coming into force on 6
   April 2023 of new rules and a practice direction relating to the attendance at
   any court hearing of independent domestic violence advisers/independent
   sexual violence advisers as support to litigants at all levels of the Family
   Court.

2. An independent domestic violence adviser (IDVA) or independent sexual
   violence adviser (ISVA) is an independent adviser, however described, who
   works with people (whether adults or children) who have experienced or are
   said to have experienced domestic abuse (in the case of an IDVA) or rape
   and/or sexual assault (in the case of an ISVA) by providing them with
   support, advice and help.
   The Right to Reasonable Assistance
3. A litigant may have support, advice and help from an IDVA or ISVA but an
   IDVA or ISVA is not a legal representative or McKenzie Friend. An IDVA or
   ISVA has no right to act as an advocate or to carry out the conduct of
   litigation.
   What IDVAs or ISVAs may do
4. An IDVA or ISVA may: i) provide practical, emotional or moral support for a
   litigant; ii) provide assistance and support to engage with the court process
   as well as with out of court discussions; and iii) help in dealing with
   authorities or other support services.
   What IDVAs or ISVAs may not do
5. IDVAs or ISVAs may not: i) act as the litigant’s agent in relation to the
   proceedings; ii) manage a litigant’s case outside court, for example by signing court documents; iii) address the court, make oral submissions or examine witnesses.
6. An IDVA or ISVA does not have a right of audience or a right to conduct
   litigation. It is a criminal offence to exercise a right of audience or to conduct
   litigation unless properly qualified and authorised to do so by an appropriate
   regulatory body or, in the case of an otherwise unqualified or unauthorised
   individual (i.e., a lay individual including a McKenzie Friend), the court
   grants such a right on a case-by-case basis.
   Support from an IDVA or ISVA at Court
7. Any party to family proceedings who is receiving support from an IDVA or
   ISVA has the right to receive that support at any hearing, subject to the court’s power to direct otherwise. The court retains the power to refuse to permit attendance at a hearing and may do so where it is satisfied that it is not in the interests of justice for the IDVA or ISVA to be present or continue to be present at a hearing.
8. For the avoidance of doubt, any party to family proceedings who is receiving
   support from an IDVA or ISVA has the right to receive support from the IDVA
   or ISVA at court, both before or after a hearing.
9. A litigant who wishes to receive support from an IDVA or ISVA should inform
   the judge as soon as possible indicating who the IDVA or ISVA will be. The
   proposed IDVA or ISVA must provide their name and details of the
   organisation for which they work, together with an assurance that they
   understand the confidential nature of the proceedings. If the court considers that there might be grounds for circumscribing the right to receive support from an IDVA or ISVA at a hearing or a party objects to the presence of an IDVA or ISVA at a hearing, it is not for the person receiving IDVA or ISVA support to justify the exercise of their right to receive such
   support. It is for the court or the objecting party to provide sufficient reasons why the litigant should not receive such support during a hearing.
10. When considering whether to refuse an IDVA or ISVA permission to be
    present at a hearing, the right to a fair trial is engaged. The matter should be
    considered carefully by the court. The person opposed to the presence of the
    IDVA or ISVA should explain clearly what their objections are. The person
    receiving IDVA or ISVA support should be given a reasonable opportunity to
    explain why the IDVA or ISVA should continue to be present. The proposed
    IDVA or ISVA should not be excluded from the hearing at which permission
    to attend is determined.
11. The court may refuse to allow a litigant to exercise the right to receive support from an IDVA or ISVA at the start of a hearing if the court is satisfied that it is not in the interests of justice for the IDVA or ISVA to be present, or continue to be present, at the hearing.
12. A decision by the court not to curtail support at a hearing from an IDVA or
    ISVA should be adhered to, unless there is subsequent misconduct during a
    hearing by the IDVA or ISVA.
13. If the court does restrict a litigant’s right to an IDVA or ISVA during a hearing, it should give a short judgment setting out the reasons why it has curtailed the right to support during a hearing. A litigant may seek permission to appeal such a decision. IDVAs or ISVAs have no standing to do so.
14. The following factors should not be taken to justify the court refusing to
    permit a litigant receiving such support during a hearing:
    a. The case or application is simple or straightforward (for example, it is
    simply listed as a directions or case management hearing);
    b. The litigant appears capable of conducting the case without support;
    c. The litigant is unrepresented through choice;
    d. The other party is not represented;
    e. The proposed IDVA or ISVA belongs to an organisation that promotes a
    particular cause;
    f. The proceedings are confidential and the court papers contain sensitive
    information relating to a family’s affairs.
15. A litigant may be denied the support of an IDVA or ISVA during a hearing
    because that support might undermine, or has undermined, the interests of
    justice. Examples of circumstances where this might arise include, but are not limited to: i) the support in the court room is being provided for an improper purpose; ii) the support in the court room is unreasonable in nature or degree; iv) the IDVA or ISVA is directly or indirectly conducting the litigation; or v) the court is not satisfied that the IDVA or ISVA fully understands the duty of confidentiality.
16. A litigant is permitted to communicate any information, including filed
    evidence, relating to the proceedings to an IDVA or ISVA for the purpose of
    obtaining support or assistance in relation to the proceedings.
17. The High Court can, under its inherent jurisdiction, impose a civil restraint
    order on an IDVA or ISVA who repeatedly acts in a way that undermines the
    efficient administration of justice.

The guidance can be accessed here.

If you would like to find an IDVA or an ISVA, Google “Find an [IDVA]/[ISVA] in [NAME OF YOUR COUNCIL]”

Additional links:

• What is an IDVA?
• Find an IDVA – Refuge
• Help after rape and sexual assault – NHS
• Find an ISVA – The Survivors Trust

These are the latest forced adoption items that should be right on your radar:

• Surrogacy reforms could lead to forced adoptions (England and Wales)
• Call for counselling training for forced adoption victims (Scotland)
• The Truth About the Adoption Option

These are the child welfare items that should be right on your radar:

• Family court chief: Parents with intellectual impairment in public law proceedings (speech)
• Autism: Overview of policy and services in England (briefing paper)
• Child-focused case recording – what social workers should know (podcast)

These are the latest child welfare items that should be right on your radar:

• Government unveils plans to introduce mandatory reporting of suspected child sexual abuse
• Public Services Committee launches new inquiry into Children’s Social Care Strategy
• No evidence scheme placing social workers in schools reduces child protection investigations, says What Works

An online workshop offering parenting support through an evidence-based trauma informed model has been made available to the public.

It is the second workshop in a 5-part series hosted by the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children (APSAC) and the New York Foundling’s Vincent J. Fontana Center for Child Protection. All six workshops focus on positive parenting.

The one hour workshop, which is being hosted on Zoom, costs $20 (around £16) to join, but if you have any queries or questions or just want to ask if you might be able to attend free of charge, the contact for this event is Leslie, who can be emailed at Leslie.Schmerler@nyfoundling.org

The conference would be particularly beneficial to UK child welfare practitioners working with families.

We’re adding additional information found in the invitation below:

Workshop Description

This is the innovative, evidence-based, trauma-informed model Dr. Ross Greene describes in his influential books The Explosive Child, Lost at School, Lost & Found, and Raising Human Beings. The model represents a significant departure from discipline-as-usual: it focuses on solving problems rather than on modifying behaviour, emphasises collaborative rather than unilateral solutions, encourages proactive rather than reactive intervention, de-emphasises diagnostic categories, and provides practical, research-based tools for assessment and intervention.

Date & Time

April 26th, 2 pm to 3pm ET (7pm to 8pm UK time – we think)

Speaker Biography

Ross W. Greene, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist and the originator of the innovative, evidence-based approach called Collaborative and Proactive Solutions (CPS), as described in his influential books.

He also developed and executive produced the award-winning documentary film The Kids We Lose, released in 2018. Dr. Greene was on the faculty at Harvard Medical School for over 20 years, and is now founding director of the non-profit Lives in the Balance. He is also currently adjunct Professor in the Department of Psychology at Virginia Tech and adjunct Professor in the Faculty of Science at the University of Technology in Sydney, Australia.

Dr. Greene has worked with several thousand children with concerning behaviours and their caregivers, and he and his colleagues have overseen implementation and evaluation of the CPS model in countless schools, inpatient psychiatric units, and residential and juvenile detention facilities, with dramatic effect: significant reductions in recidivism, discipline referrals, detentions, suspensions, and use of restraint and seclusion.

We like how the acronym CPS has been turned on its head* – perhaps deliberately to shift the way social work professionals think about their role and what they are there to achieve for families.

*CPS in the UK refers to Child Protection Services, a term which has become filled with negative meaning, including the underlying notion that child welfare professionals are hostile and unwilling to collaborate with families. By contrast, Dr. Greene uses the acronym for Collaborative and Proactive Solutions, which has a far more positive and sophisticated tone.

Language matters.

Many thanks to the End Violence Global Partnership’s Professor Joan Durrant for sharing this workshop with Researching Reform.

Welcome to another week.

The image of the month has once again very kindly been provided by Researching Reform’s Artist In Residence, Paul Brian Tovey.

Paul is an adult adoptee whose adoptive parents physically, verbally and sexually abused him in childhood. His work reflects the impact this maltreatment has had on his mental health and his physical health, as a child and as an adult.

Paul now campaigns for adoptees to have the legal right to revert back to their birth identities.

This painting is titled, “Dog Identity.”

Paul shared a poem with Researching Reform about this piece:

It was pre and post adoption times in the childhood head
Mixing pet dog images along the dream street where it led

I’d watched on four legs my dogs howl at windowed cats
I was one of them and we all chased the rubbish bin rats
When my dogs howled for life to get out of the shed chains
I heard my Adoptee senses joining in with split adoptee brains

You cannot keep my wild genes clammed and jammed of jaw
But they did mostly even at school as I got into playground war
I hated the children with real family and smoother lives
I drew my dogs chasing them with paws holding knives
One day I called a teacher “Mommy” out of displaced love

I wanted her arms like a fingers wrapping me in a glove

Down the hound road to the Adopters home I sensed a wrong
My heart could cross time sing my daddy a gene song:

“Oh daddy daddy I’ve been away as a beaten dog so long
I’ll draw our bones and hidden home and speak in bark
It’s primitive daddy but I’ll be back to make a primal mark
Istol is my lost star daddy, and the truth is wet and stark”

(In memory of Dog and his kind ways)

Many thanks to Paul for allowing us to share his art, and his insight into abused childhoods.