Listening to children in court must get beyond lip service

Changes to the family court system have come into force recently after a detailed review of the system by David Norgrove. In both public law (the care system) and private law (separation and divorce, and parental responsibility) the need for change to bring about better and speedier decision making, and greater focus on the child rather than adults, is clear.

Courts are adult environments dealing in adult concepts. But decisions made in family courts impact most on the children in the families concerned. Of course the feelings, experiences and often the trauma of the adults going through the private law part of the courts' processes all matter. But the most significant challenges remain creating a mental and emotional space for the voice of the child to be prominent and their interests best served.

Many of the children we work with experience family courts as a result of local authority intervention, parental divorce or domestic violence. Under our newly strengthened remit, this focus remains central in our work. I'm going to share with you what children consistently tell me they want changed about the system.

Children do not want their private lives discussed in detail, especially not when the courts are open to the press. They fear that referring to them as "child x" in the local paper does not make them invisible. If you were involved in a case, would you want the details published so that everybody you know recognises who you are? No? Then why is it fine for children, often voiceless in the process concerned, to be open to playground taunts when classmates recognise they are in fact "child x"?

Children want the judge to speak directly to them and listen to what they say. They are astute enough to know that the decision is the judge's, not theirs - they just want a proper say in what's going on. Children have made it clear that judges, solicitors and barristers must be trained in how to listen, engage and learn from them, and that this should be given priority.

Children want to be heard

Children want a culture, not a tick-box process, of listening to their views, even if they do not get all they want. They know really listening, rather than claiming to listen, is hard work. No harder, as they point out, than being a child in care or in a warring family, where their roles might be peace keepers or guardians of their siblings' safety from adult fury, manipulation, selfishness, neglect or abuse. They feel patronised when people either can't or don't want to listen. Those weariest children said to our researchers in one session: "We have been told we were being listened to before, and nothing came of it. If I talk to you, am I wasting my time and yours all over again?" Every social worker, independent reviewing officer, Cafcass guardian, parent, solicitor and judge should take note of this question as we go into this reformed system.

Children want to know what's going on. As one pointed out to us: "The child's interests are supposed to come first. I have never thought mine were." They were as adamant about this when considering the behaviours of their parents and carers, in both the public and private law process, as they were over what happened in the courts.

The Norgrove review pointed out that the system was not a system, but a mess. The reforms are a chance to make things better. But early evidence is patchy. There is not a lot of professional-to-professional listening, let alone professional to child. It will take time, of course it will. But time is exactly the issue. Children have little enough of it. Every month of things not being settled in a child's life is a greater proportion of that life than it is of yours or mine. All of us must place their interests at the heart of our concerns, and do all we do as if that were a reality. From where I'm standing, that looks as if it might be too big an ask. Is it?