BBC investigation into family courts

[SausageAndEggSandwich]

Family courts: Mothers dying after 'abusers' claim access to children

This is horrific. I have no experience myself but from reading threads on here I have some idea of how stressful the process can be.

But some of the stories featured here are just beyond awful. Mothers dying from stress, paedophile fathers given custody.

It looks like there's a BBC programme on it available on iPlayer. I hope the outcome of the study mentioned at the University of Manchester has some influence because it seems like a barbaric, secretive system with no recourse when the outcome is wrong.

Hey there
long time reader and occasional poster, nc for this because being in private family law proceedings makes you utterly paranoid.

sadly the bbc report today does not surprise me and it should not surprise anyone in government, the legal system or social services.

in summer 2020 the Ministry of Justice published the so-called “harm report” which set out just how wide spread the experiences covered in todays report are. You can read it here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/895173/assessing-risk-harm-children-parents-pl-childrens-cases-report_.pdf

my own experience: proven domestic abuse, including violence against children and multiple female partners (not just me) coercive control and sexual assault. This is what the court found. And yet, contact is an absolute given. Court used as a further form of abuse with father repeatedly returning the matter to court for “more” contact and to remove court-imposed safeguards (eg for contact to be in a contact centre). We are talking over £80k in legal fees for me as there is no legal aid even where DA has been proven, unless you are down to your last ~£5k in assets (which includes the value of your home - the roof over your child’s head).

why does this happen? Because the 1989 Children’s Act contains a “presumption of parental involvement” which I think we have to thank the Fathers 4 Justice mob for. It is interpreted by courts as meaning there is an extremely high bar on ruling no contact. Domestic abuse and physical violence and even sexual assault does not meet that bar. My lawyer tells me it’s only child SA that really meets that bar, and even then not always, and certainly not if the SA was not against the child the father seeks contact with.

the harm report recommended the gov review that presumption. It said it would - in summer 2020. But guess what?
it’s been kicked from long grass to meadow and back again. I will not hold my breath. It’s an issue that almost exclusively affects women, and single parent women at that, so very few politicians are going to stand up for us and address this

Watched it today and it confirms what I've been thinking for some time but too scared to say. As a foreigner in the UK I find that kids are treated as assets to be split and courts rarely act in the best interest of children. I was also told that reporting abuse is a fast-track to losing custody so better for womwn to keep quiet. It feel like one of those surreal situations no one would expect from a developed country try and maybe in 50 years time there will be an in depth inquest and search for the lost children and womwn abused by the court system and a public apology. Not a good time and place to be a woman, or a child!

I started reading that document but haven't finished it yet. It seems crazy so much effort and time can go into a report like that and it just gets filed away and nothing done @Onetimeusername99

The report is so obviously and hopelessly biased, most people with an ounce of objectivity wouldn't give it a second thought.

None of it surprises me. The rights of the abusive father sit far higher than the rights of the abused child at the moment sadly.

I have heard so many harrowing tales.

None of it surprises me. The rights of the abusive father sit far higher than the rights of the abused child at the moment sadly.

No. It does not.

I can assure you that is the case. And that is based on professional as well as personal knowledge of the system.

I too have professional knowledge of the family court to draw on.

I can assure you that is the case. And that is based on professional as well as personal knowledge of the system

It isn’t my knowledge or experience, in general. Though I suspect it may depend a bit on where you are in the country and what the judiciary are like there. That’s not to say that judges never get things wrong, but in my area I find they approach things from a welfare perspective and certainly not “contact at all costs”.

The system is far from perfect and really started to struggle after the withdrawal of easily accessible legal aid, and it’s very under-resourced, which doesn’t help, and I think there needs to be more scrutiny than there currently is, but in my area I think that the judges do listen and get it right the majority of the time.

I have seen court orders made in courts I’m less familiar with which have made me blanch, however, so it certainly does seem to be a bit of a lottery.

@TheFireflies That matches my recollection of the courts I used to attend on a regular basis. I did mostly legal aided work and so when that work dried up, I moved into property work. I'll admit, I didn't much like children matters although I did a fair bit of both public and private. But as you say, I always thought that the Judges had the welfare of the child at the forefront of their decisions.