The Association of Directors of Social Services (ADSS), in its response to a questionnaire issued by the Department for Constitutional Affairs (DCA) to mark the first year of the protocol's use, said each solicitor for parties involved in a case often wanted their own specialist witness. Children's guardians often "remained neutral" and did not argue against the use of a specialist assessment, it said.
Solicitors were arguing that denying a further assessment would be to deny the human rights of parents and carers.
Alison Paddle, chair of guardians' organisation Nagalro, said that because the protocol was trying to cut delays in cases going to court, it was putting pressure on family placement teams to get expert assessments done simultaneously on parents and other relatives, such as grandparents.
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