Use of Independent Social Workers in Care Proceedings

This is a guest blog post by Noel Arnold. Noel is a partner at Philcox Gray & Co in London and sits on the Law Society’s Children Law Sub-committee and the Association of Lawyers for Children’s Executive Committee. The views expressed here are his own and do not purport to reflect the views of any other [...]

STUDY DISPUTES INDEPENDENT SOCIAL WORKERS CAUSE DELAYS IN FAMILY COURTS

Some important new research is being launched today, conducted by Dr Julia Brophy at Oxford. It’s not yet visible on the Oxford website but Family Law say the following: New research published today from Oxford University claims that delays could be reduced in family courts by the earlier appointment of independent social work experts (ISWs). The [...]

Family Justice Narratives : No. 4

This is the fourth of the Family Justice Narratives. You can find out what the Family Justice Narratives are all about and how to get involved here. NARRATIVE NO 4 : Anonymous Guardian   Naturally, it has taken some time to get down to writing this, despite my best intentions. It’s an excellent idea and I look [...]

Family Justice Narratives : No. 2

This is the second of the Family Justice Narratives. You can find out what the Family Justice Narratives are all about and how to get involved here. Narrative No 2 : ANONYMOUS SOCIAL WORKER Tell us where you fit in (solicitor, barrister, social worker, guardian, judge, researcher, court staff, something else) I’m a Social Worker (not that [...]

Multi-Disciplinary Conference to Debate Family Justice Review

St John’s Chambers (my chambers) is hosting a multi-disciplinary conference on 23 March to debate the Family Justice Review and the Government’s response. The conference will take place at Taunton Rugby Club and is to be chaired by the Honourable Mr Justice Ryder. The event is open to professionals of all disciplines working within the [...]

Smacks of hypocrisy

Not so long ago David Lammy was criticised for suggesting a relaxation of smacking laws, it was said he had sought to blame the summer riots upon the disempowerment of parents embodied in laws preventing the exercise of parental discipline. I’ve long since lost the original article I had read, but what had struck me [...]

Protecting Our Children

Episode 2 of Protecting Our Children aired on BBC2 tonight. And if it didn’t bring a tear in Episode One, Episode Two will definitely do it for you. I only caught the second half of Episode 1 last week, and was left wondering whether there might be some gaps in coverage (above and beyond the [...]

Guest Post: Social media – our master or our servant?

This is a guest post written by Sarah Phillimore (@svphillimore), a barrister at St John’s Chambers. It arises from a discussion Sarah, myself and other colleagues had last weekend about the difficulty in obtaining s26 contact orders in placement proceedings and the spate of media reports of teenagers tracked down on Facebook by their biological [...]

Managing Adoption Services to Achieve Financial Savings

OMFG. Yes, that is a legal-technical term. When I read the following extracts from Martin Narey’s review of adoption services in Kent, sent to me by a legal friend who often suggests material for the blog, OMFG seemed to be an apposite response: “Adoption should never be pursued simply because it saves money. But there [...]

Abuse of Process: Dramatic Extent of Stalking in the Family Courts

Last week NAPO (The Trade Union and Professional Association for Family Court & Probation Staff) and PAS (Protection Against Stalking) published a “dossier” of 33 cases that “exposes shocking use by convicted murders, rapists and stalkers of family and civil court processes to continue to cause fear and alarm to their victims.  The briefing details [...]