Open letter to CAFCASS

“An open letter in respect of my resignation from Cafcass 26 September 2011 Dear  …………………, I have long had my doubts as to whether Cafcass as an organisation is fit for purpose.  I have been critical of the honesty and integrity of the management of the service, things that continue to concern me.  I have [...]

Thoughtful and Thought Provoking

A couple of pieces in the Guardian which are worth a read: here and here. No soundbites, just common sense and a thoughtful approach to the problems. The first, by a very sensible and knowledgeable family magistrate, almost makes me waver in my long held view that family cases are unsuitable for disposal in the [...]

Panorama

On Monday Panorama showed a report on the journey through the family courts of a family accused of causing serious non-accidental injuries to their baby son: ‘Parents’ Child Abuse Nightmare’. After lengthy police investigation and care proceedings no prosecution was pursued and a finding of fact hearing exonerated the parents, the Judge holding that there [...]

Iconoclasts – A Modest Proposal

How charming: Tomorrow on Radio 4 at 8pm Edward Stourton chairs a live debate in which Professor David Marsland defends his view that the mentally and morally unfit should be sterilised. Part of the Iconoclasts Programme.

CAFCASS – What to do?

Thank Goodness for that – the new(ish) President of the Family Division has decided not to renew the guidance and may scrap the duty guardian scheme. See this article extracting an interview reported fully in Family Affairs. On another note, a proposal to scrap CAFCASS and to reallocate it’s responsibilities to local authorities. Clearly something [...]

Parental Alienation – a sad story

I don’t have time today to analyse this case in a full blog post but I did want to post a link to it. John Bolch at Family Lore has been able to provide a very helpful summary of it and links to the judgment.

Smorgasbord

I managed to get away from court early today. No stringing things out just to earn an extra bob or two for me. No, common sense and good counsel prevailed and the public purse has been saved a pretty penny and justice done etc etc. But as always there is much to do back in [...]

WHY CARE?

Background to this post appears here. . Alas, this is not the beautifully crafted discussion piece I had wanted to post, but I cannot devote as much time to this as I would like, and so I offer it as your starter for ten in its slightly disjointed and unpolished form… . Firstly, let me [...]

Guarding the voice of children

Joint Position Statement from the Interdisciplinary Alliance for Children on CAFCASS working practices on the NAGALRO website (click on latest news in left hand menu, doc is currently 2nd item down in list). Nagalro and ALC have written to Anthony Douglas (CEO CAFCASS) to notify him that they will be advising their members not to [...]

Hershman Levy Memorial Lecture – Munby LJ on Transparency

Lord Justice Munby recently delivered the annual Hershman Levy Lecture on the topic of Transparency and the Children Schools and Families Act 2010, in which he referred to my recent article in Family Law, republished here. You can read the lecture here on the Association of Lawyers for Children website (I’ve downloaded it here: HERSHMAN_LEVY_MEMORIAL_LECTURE_2010, as [...]