Domestic Abuse and Care Proceedings - the AWR case (another mum on the run)

[johnhemming]

Hopefully this won't happen to any of the readers, but another mum on the run story has been publicised in the Sunday Telegraph

Here
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/lawandorder/3868100/Mother-flees-abroad-with-her-son-to -escape-social-workers.html

I have put additional information on my weblog here
johnhemming.blogspot.com/2008/12/arw-mum-on-run-with-her-children.html

This is a case which will interest anyone who is looking at how to contest Hague Convention proceedings in public family law.

I know of two cases like this. The other one has been publicised in The Times, but I cannot find it at the moment.

Camilla Cavendish has also written about DV/DA and Care proceedings
www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/camilla_cavendish/article5050750.ece

I am not sure that Ed Balls has any particular input into this. I think he is driven by the Civil Servants.

In a sense the Integrated Childrens System is an interpretation of the Laming Report.

See This for more info.

I thought the National Children's Database recommended in the Laming Report was a good one. I assumed that all information collected on a specific child at risk from all agencies (SS, police, NHS, school etc) were stored in one place to allow a complete picture to be built up for a specific child. This would avoid situations whereby agencies work in isolation and also minimise one agency eg SS going off on a tangent.

I am dismayed to read that is in fact implemented as the Integrated Children's System - which sounds like an IT system for categorising cases and setting up workflows with time limits for managing the cases which have been categorised. I have very little to go on beyond the article but it sounds like a caseload management system for social services rather than a central store of information on each child that contains info from different agencies?

Great for generating stats and measuring performance of SS but somehow individual child that is at the heart of this system seems to have been submerged in this madness to gather info.

It is huge flaw to require social workers to categorise cases quickly. I agree with the article's conclusion that "social workers need to have time to visit families and get to know them and they need space to think, debate and formulate a considered and careful opinion ... The solution to the problem lies in people not computers. The direction needs to change."

It is heartbreaking to think that the scarce and valuable resources and time available for quality social work by way of face-to-face meetings is diverted into mindless recording of data for monitoring performance in some back office.

It is particularly chilling to read in the article of "the mandatory reporting by police [to SS] of all cases of domestic abuse where there are children in the household".

If women knew that once SS are involved in a DV case, they could potentially lose their dcs AND that the police are bound to report all cases of domestic violence to the SS, I can see some women not calling the police even when their life and limb are at risk at home, just to keep their children.

Women should not have to thread such a fine line between their personal safety and keeping their dcs where they find themselves victims of DV, a situation which is out of their control.

Quite which is why some women do just deal with it themselves. They are very difficult issues though because without doubt some parents are so abusive that children are better removed.

I don't like large national databases at all in any area including the NHS. The aer too risky to people's privacy.

Xenia, this article in the Times shares your view about large national databases:

Camilla Cavendish

"I was once an advocate of joined-up government, because I wanted efficiency. But too often joined-up government seems to mean joined-up fascism. In June, a select committee of MPs heard some astonishing evidence from respected campaign groups. One, Parents Against Injustice, gave instances where people whose children were being taken into care had not been allowed to challenge the allegations against them. The Association for Improvements in the Maternity Services (Aims), said that midwives were being turned into ?health police?. Jean Robinson, of Aims, said that she had seen case after case where health visitors and midwives were not supporting postnatally depressed mothers but reporting them to police and social workers, whose interventions largely made things worse."

"The problem is not the Government's desire to build up a picture, so much as how that picture can be distorted."

Joined up government when information gathered from you to combat terrorism can be used by a local council official to record if you've put the wrong rubbish in your wheelie bin etc is Big Brother/1984 Brave new world stuff and the less we have of it the better.

the story in Ireland

Hague Convention proceedings have started and it is in court on Wednesday.

If anyone is located in Dublin and is prepared to give some support/protest, i would be very grateful.
Thankyou to those who have supported me upto now, i am currently trying to get funding/donations to pay one of the top solicitors here to save my son from being returned to foster care in the UK. If anyone can help even if its minimal you can forward checks/postal orders onto MP John Hemming,houses of parliament,london.Payable to families for justice support fund.

Thanks again

If anyone is sending a cheque can it please be for "Justice for Families family support fund"

House of Commons, London, SW1 0AA

How did the court case go?

Reasonably well, back in court on Friday.

If you set up a Paypal account that would probably raise more money on the basis we all have the odd few quid in those from time to time we could forward.

The problem is keeping the money separate to any other funds. It needs to link to a specific bank account. I can set up a personal paypal account (I already have one), but don't want the money to be mixed in any way for audit reasons.

Hence this will take a bit of time.

She won
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1206625/This-mother-went-run-Europe-social-workers-tried- snatch-son-Her-crime-Letting-husband-shout-.html

Good.
But we all know this should not have happened and is happening on a daily basis, one victory for common sense and a stab towards justice does not make for a decent outcome for the Family justice system.

Now she should sue not only the SS but the cafcass guardian who gave her such stupid advice (haven't met a cafcass officer yet that was fit for the job).

The emotional torment not only she, but more importantly her son has gone through is outrageous.

When the ss start doing the job they are paid for and safeguarding the lives of children such as Baby Peter Connelly instead of dragging children like Lucus into foster care and ruining childrens lives then maybe they wont be so ashamed to tell people they are social workers, they wont need to hide behind a cloak of secrecy and will have the respect of the British public.

Angela did an interview on an English Speaking Spanish Radio station today. I can probably get this put on youtube if anyone would like this done.

Oh brilliant, I saw this news, and wondered if it was her. Am so glad. They have been through hell.

It is horrifyingly easy to get on teh wrong side of ss.

This gives the radio interview we did on Talk Radio Europe yesterday.
johnhemming.blogspot.com/2009/08/angela-wilemans-interview-on-english.html