Welcome to another week.

The President of The Family Division, Andrew McFarlane, said in his first View From The President’s Chambers that the system would have to cut corners in order to keep going amid budget cuts and increased workloads. McFarlane used his first report as President to highlight his concerns for the wellbeing of social workers, lawyers, judges and court staff in the family courts.

McFarlane said that cutting corners could include increasing the time limit on care proceedings which is set at 26 weeks (the current average completion time is 30 weeks), shortening the working hours of the family courts and reducing the length of Position Statements so that they are initially not more than one side of A4.

The President’s green light to draw out family law cases comes at a time when families are reporting increased levels of mental illness during family proceedings, with some saying that protracted hearings are re-traumatising parents and leading to mental health conditions like PTSD.

It is not clear whether the views expressed in the President’s View are in breach of human rights legislation and the Children Act 1989.

Our question this week then, is this: does the Family Court President ever have a right to allow the cutting of corners in child welfare cases?

Welcome to another week.

A former police officer has been spared jail after 1,000 indecent images of children were found in his home – some of which he had made – because of his work exposing paedophiles. Lee Kelly was given a 10-month sentence, which has been suspended for two years.

The judge told Kelly that he felt it would be unjust to send him to prison immediately because of his previous good work during his career as a police officer. It is unclear whether any of the child abuse images were made or gathered during the time he served as a police officer, although media reports suggests this may have been the case. It is also not clear whether the police officer collected and produced images with a view to catching offending paedophiles or for his own use. There is some suggestion from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) that Kelly was using the images for sexual gratification.

Despite the lack of clarity on issues going to motive, the CPS did not request a trial of fact to determine why Kelly downloaded the images in the first instance.

Our question to you this week then, is this: do you agree with the officer’s sentence? 

Welcome to another week. 

As 2018 draws to a close, we would like to ask you one very simple question: what has been your biggest child welfare concern this year? 

Whether it’s the government’s failure to address child exploitation, a lack of support for parents going through care proceedings or something else entirely, share your thoughts with our community and tell us what worried you the most in 2018. 

Welcome to another week.

Think tank, The Social Market Foundation (SMF) examined inspection data from Ofsted, and discovered that almost 50,000 vulnerable children were being cared for in areas where council services were failing them. 

SMF offers the key stats below, inside their press release:

•  63% of Local Authorities in England were providing services for vulnerable children which either “required improvement” or were “inadequate.”;
• 47,085 children – 65% of all looked-after children – are looked after in Local Authorities that are deemed to be falling short of a good standard;
• Of those children, 13,790 are receiving care services judged as “inadequate”, which is the worst possible grade. 

SMF produced a report with all their findings, which they’ve entitled, “Looked-after children: the Silent Crisis.”

The think tank is calling on the government to address the findings:

“It is remarkable that the fact that nearly two thirds of Local Authorities being judged in need of improvement or inadequate over looked-after children is scarcely discussed at Westminster. This would not be the case if such levels of failure were found in our school system, where 78% (secondary) and 90% (primary) are judged to be either good or outstanding.. 

This issue clearly needs to receive more attention from politicians and policymakers, and with improvements in the data available, we now have the ability to see where we are going wrong, and how we might improve the situation of looked after children.”

Today, Ofsted launched a beta site where members of the public can search for and access inspection reports for a wide range of bodies and child welfare practices.

Our question this week then, is this: why do you think the government continues to overlook the quality of care councils offer vulnerable children? 

Welcome to another week.

Lawyers representing child sexual abuse survivors have asked that Environment Secretary, Michael Gove, be called to give evidence at the nation’s Independent Inquiry Into Child Sexual Abuse.

The request comes after evidence from several witnesses suggested that Gove intervened in an investigation into alleged sexual abuse by a priest. The claims, which allege that Gove telephoned to ask about the priest and requested a report on the complaint, were made by two child protection professionals. Gove denies the claims.

The lawyers believe that Gove should be questioned at the Inquiry in order to resolve the contradicting testimonies.

The Guardian reports:

“Clare Winter, the deputy director of children’s services responsible for children’s social care at Somerset county council, told the inquiry in 2017 that she received two telephone calls in 2010 from Gove and his office inquiring about the investigation.. The second call, she said, came from “somebody who said they were the secretary of state for education” who repeated a request for information about the progress of the investigation into a priest, known only as F65, suspected of having oral sex with a 16-year-old boy.

Jane Dziadulewicz, another safeguarding official responsible for child protection, told the inquiry that she helped produce a report for Gove’s office on the progress of the Downside investigation following the calls.”

MP Jacob Rees-Mogg, who has connections to Downside school, never responded to the Guardian’s questions in relation to whether he had discussed the investigation with Gove.

As the communications to the professionals were not made in person, it is possible that an individual was pretending to be Gove in order to access information. If calls were recorded by councils, this would have offered strong evidence and helped to clear up the conflicting testimonies in this case.

Our question this week then, is just this: do you think councils should record their calls? 

Welcome to another week.

The Home Office is advising families travelling with differing surnames to bring birth or adoption certificates to the airport, to prove the identities of children within family units.

Officers at the airport are to step up interrogations in a bid to tackle child trafficking and exploitation.

The request was not well received by parents, and some member of the public on Twitter, who felt the new policy was draconian and heavy handed.

A tweet posted on 1st August, highlighting the change has received over 500 comments, most of which appear to be deeply critical of the move.

Replying to the Home Office on Twitter, Welsh MP Hywel Williams said:

“Wholly unacceptable. Having different surnames is not some bureaucratic problem. My wife is Davies- she’s not an add-on to me. My children are Hywel – a pattern becoming more common in Wales as we shed practices enforced on our culture during industrialization.”

Academic researcher Dr Johnna Montgomerie observed the effect this would have on married women who chose to forego taking their husband’s names:

“Just to clarify women who chose not to take their husband’s surname or have children with a partner they are not married to will be subject to increased border measures. This is what freedom looks like under a #Tory government? Straight out of #Gilead”

Tweeter Nicky Marsh pointed out the impact this would have on men, as well:

“Absolutely, this is terrifying. And this extends to men, too, and might even be more problematic for them: my children have my surname rather than their father’s and although we are married this is an issue for him.”

Another tweeter pointed out an issue in relation to carrying several important documents around:

“This is a great way to lose important documents while travelling. Brilliant advice from the same department who will probably try to deport people later on when they have lost, say, a marriage certificate abroad after following this advice.”

Our question this week then, is just this: do you agree with the new policy?

Welcome to another week.

Former President of the Family Division, James Munby has urged the government to ask the public if it would like to be able to Skype judges during hearings rather than attend a physical court.

The question comes as the country faces mass court closures, with many already unable to attend available court houses without having to travel vast distances. Munby highlighted this issue by giving an example of  a mother living in a rural area, who does not own a car, having to get to the court.

Our question this week then, is just this: do you think being able to virtually attend court hearings using Skype is a good idea?

Welcome to another week.

A debate in the House of Commons looking at protections for victims of domestic violence will take place on Wednesday 18th July. The Westminster Hall debate will look at the government’s efforts to protect victims of abuse during cross examination in family courts.

This is the summary offered on the Parliament website:

“The Prisons and Courts Bill published in February 2017 contained provisions to prevent perpetrators of domestic violence cross examining their victims in the family court. However, the Bill fell at the General Election in 2017. The Queen’s Speech 2017 confirmed that there would be a draft Domestic Violence and Abuse Bill and also that a Courts Bill would re-introduce measures to prevent alleged abusers cross-examining victims directly.

In March 2018, the Government launched a consultation ‘seeking views on both legislative proposals for a landmark draft Domestic Abuse Bill and a package of practical action.’

In relation to protections in the family courts, the consultation states that new Family Procedure Rules allow vulnerable parties to family proceedings to give evidence behind a protective screen or via video link. It sought views on whether there were other aspects of the criminal court treatment of vulnerable people which the family court could learn from. A draft Domestic Violence Bill is due to be published later this session.

There have been calls for the Government to act more quickly. Women’s Aid and Queen Mary University School of Law published a report in May 2018 which argued that the Government shouldn’t wait for the Domestic Abuse Bill but should use “the quickest legislative vehicle available” and the Victims Commissioner Baroness Newlove has also argued that “time is of the essence”.”

Currently, alleged and convicted offenders of abuse are not allowed to cross examine alleged victims of that abuse in the criminal courts. This automatic presumption does not exist in the family courts.

Our question this week then, is this: do you think the law should be amended to prevent all alleged and proven abusers from cross examining alleged victims in family court?

You can access the full report here. 

Welcome to another week.

As the ultra successful Family Drug And Alcohol Court (FDAC) looks set to close, Nick Crichton, the judge who pioneered the programme in the UK is calling on the government to keep the scheme alive. 

The unit, which is the only family court to date that offers a personal, and proven programme for helping keep families suffering from substance abuse together, has been systematically rejected by local authorities around the country, who claim not to be able to see its value.

FDAC also prevents mothers dealing with addiction from losing their children, and entering an often unbreakable cycle of care proceedings, fostering or adoption plans, and a move to get pregnant again to cope with the loss once the child is taken, which in turn leads to more care proceedings and child removal orders.

The units are also saving the government a lot of money. Research suggests that FDAC saves the government £17,000 per adoption and fostering case. In 2017, there were over 72,000 children in state care.  The number of children adopted in 2017, was 4,350. The number of children paced in foster homes in that same year was 53,420.

Conservatively, FDAC could be saving the government over 900 million pounds a year. At full throttle, the savings could reach well over a billion.

There has been the suggestion that local authorities are refusing to implement the units because they don’t see what they get out of the programme. The argument is that FDAC employees and teams reap all the benefits of the scheme and the host council, benefits little. Others, like Researching Reform, take the view that local authorities, whose main streams of revenue include fostering and adoptions, see FDAC as a threat to their income.

Our question this week then, is just this: what do you think should be done?

Welcome to another week.

More than 1,200 parents in Minnesota, America, have launched a class action to shut down social services in the state, accusing it of gross negligence and law breaking. The parents are also calling on the US government to make lying, fabricating evidence and ignoring the law whilst carrying out social work, a punishable offence.

A local media outlet spoke with a mother who had joined the class action, and reported that:

“After taking her ten-month old son to the hospital for a cough, doctors said he was stable, though they recommended she should stay. She chose to go home because, as she told the outlet, “After waiting, I had asked to leave because I wanted to put my kids to bed and I had my three-year-old with me.”

“I asked if there was anything else that had to be done,” she said. “They said ‘No, there was no other testing or anything that needed to be done.’”

But two days later, police showed up at her home to take him back to the doctor, and there was already a foster family lined up to take him. “She checked him out, all his vitals were stable,” she said. “They already had a foster parent in the room, in the room to remove my son before they ever proved … before they ever proved there was an emergency situation.”

He has been in foster care for over a week. Weber was supposed to get [her son] back on Tuesday, but the judge postponed the case because no county attorney could make it to court.

“I need to share my story and if I need to share it a hundred times, a thousand times – I will,” she told KMSP.”

Our question this week then, is just this: should the UK government make lying and fabricating evidence whilst doing social work a crime?

Many thanks to Maggie Tuttle for sharing this news item with us.