Letters to the Editor: Trust is crucial in family justice
Monday, November 14, 2011
The publication of the review of family justice in National Adoption Week is a timely reminder that the deficiencies of the adoption system are not restricted to the actions of local authorities and adoption agencies.
The headline recommendation is that care proceedings should be completed within six months, with various recommendations to support this target. All these are positive and sensible, but they rely on another area of difficulty identified, that of trust.
Courts, social workers and guardians all have a duty to put the welfare of the child first, but each part of the system appears not to trust the others to work together in the interests of the child.
If these recommendations are accepted, this review could be the start of a real improvement in the experience of children caught up in the system. We hope the government will respond quickly and issue a clear timetable for these much-needed reforms.
David Holmes, chief executive, British Association for Adoption and Fostering
Care plans must be scrutinised
We support measures in the family justice review to introduce a single family court and specialist family judges, and to strengthen the role of independent reviewing officers.
We back the report’s recommendation to enable siblings to apply for contact without court permission and view the Child Arrangements Order as a constructive way of enabling parents to make consensual arrangements about a child with legal bite.
However, we are concerned that interim care orders being extended for up to six months and proposals to significantly reduce the role of the judge in scrutinising care plans will result in cases of very poor local authority practice going unchallenged.
We regularly come across such cases where it is the judge’s intervention that proved key in ensuring the child’s interests were considered. Removing such scrutiny will be to the detriment of very vulnerable children and families.
Cathy Ashley, chief executive, Family Rights Group
Perceptions need dispelling
The public perception of youth crime, levels of threat and issues of safety is in serious disagreement with the researched reality. Following the recent riots and the manner they were covered, the results of the Barnardo’s ICM polls should come as no surprise.
Dominant public perception creates chronic pressure on elected governments and justice institutions to react with a "get tough" mentality.
IARS and its partners for the 99% campaign will continue to dispel stereotypes and through youth-led projects and research will help address misconceptions and stereotypes that lead to fear and division within society.
Dr Theo Gavrielides, founder and director, Independent Academic Research Studies
