Stop Injustice Now - News

Enfield Arts Activities Concert!

2012-01-10T13:35:00.005Z

Enfield Arts Activities Concert (24th November 2011)

Performing live in Edmonton, Enfield
Please Watch To The End & Please Leave A Comment,
Thanks!
Enfield Youth Choir
Songs sang in this Performance:-
1. I say a Little Prayer
2. Blame it on the Boogie
3. Valerie (Solo by Zoe Lisa Walton)
Name of performers in the choir!
Whitney Boateng
Shannon Edwards
Tia Harris
Fay Hollingsworth
Helen Nicolaou
Hannah Taylor
Zoe Lisa Walton…
Conductor: Sara King, Accompanist: Paula Warren
Original Songs Sang By
Aretha Franklin - I Say a Little Prayer
Jackson 5 - Blame
it on the Boogie
Amy Winehouse – Valerie
Please Watch To The End & Please Leave A Comment,
Thanks!

10,000 CHILDREN RIPPED FROM THEIR FAMILIES 'Stop Injustice Now'

2011-07-17T22:50:00.000+01:00

AT LEAST 10,000 young children have been dragged from their families and needlessly adopted due to a flawed target at the heart of Government, it was claimed last night.
Vulnerable children were handed over in their thousands under a New Labour crusade driven by artificial adoption targets.
A top Oxford academic yesterday branded the policy as Tony Blair’s worst mistake.
The expert in social work who did not want to be named said: “Forget the Iraq War. “Blair’s adoption target was the reason I left the Labour party.” Last night backing came from MP John Hemming, who said the policy led to the unnecessary adoption of 1,000 children every year.
He claims the target set 11 years ago was flawed from the outset because it contained a fundamental error of maths and he has called for a full Parliamentary inquiry to prevent further damage.

FULL STORY:-
http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/259355/10-000-children-ripped-from-their-families

Unreliable Evidence, Social Services Evidence is becoming Unreliable in the Family Courts.

2011-03-06T19:04:00.001Z

Listen to the Full Broadcast:
http://www.crystalwalton.com/Me_and_the_Media.html#Unreliable_Evidence,_Social_Services_in_the_Family_Courts
Unreliable Evidence, Social Services Evidence is becoming Unreliable in the Family Courts.
BBC Radio 4 Reports, An increase in children going in to care, against the wishes of parents and based false Social Services evidence.
Social services have to make up false evidence so they can meet new government targets.
This means children like baby P (Peter Connelly) are left with abusive parents and more children are taken in to care away from inocent parents like Sarah and Ian Walton (These are there real names).
Listen to the Full Broadcast:
http://www.crystalwalton.com/Me_and_the_Media.html#Unreliable_Evidence,_Social_Services_in_the_Family_Courts

Met accused of 'campaign' against shaken baby witnesses

2011-02-22T12:42:00.004Z

Listen to the full Broadcast
http://crystalwalton.com/Me_and_the_Media.html#Met_accused_of_

Three leading pathologists have accused the Metropolitan Police of attempting to discredit them as expert witnesses in so-called Shaken Baby court cases. About 250 Non-Accidental Head Injury (NAHI) cases go to court every year, with the outcome often relying on a expert testimony from pathologists. The Royal College of Pathologists has called for an inquiry into the claims. Responding to the allegations, the Met said the force was "completely committed to the judicial process". The scientific debate over NAHI has grown increasingly acrimonious over the past 10 years.At first it was played out in select gatherings of pathologists before ending up in courtrooms and inquests up and down the country. That debate turned toxic, with one side accusing the other of proselytising suspect scientific theories. Now, senior consultant pathologists have accused the Metropolitan Police and others of an orchestrated strategy to discredit them as expert witnesses for parents and carers accused of murdering their children.Dr Waney Squier, Dr Irene Scheimberg and Dr Marta Cohen say their evidence is based on a speech made by Detective Inspector Colin Welsh, a lead investigator with the Met's Child Abuse Investigation Command.

FULL STORY:
http://crystalwalton.com/Me_and_the_Media.html#Met_accused_of_

Provisional Skeleton Argument Of Julian Paul Assange (Mr Assange, Wikileaks)

2011-01-13T21:34:00.003Z

Read The Full Provisional Skeleton Argument

Julian Paul Assange (Mr Assange, Wikileaks)
Extradition Hearing of the 7th & 8th Febuary 2011, In The Royal Courts of Justice.

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B7-vo-lUScJDYjg5MDA2YmQtODYwYS00ZTdjLTg2OWQtNGM1MmUzZGVkZmFm&hl=en

Wrongly Acused of Child Abuse

2010-11-19T13:48:00.002Z

How one family coped with a traumatic accusation of harming their child

When Cassie Gould and Wayne Halligan took their sick son, Cavern, to hospital they were falsely accused of harming him - then began 11 months of hell as they tried to get their baby back. Being accused of abuse not only meant they lost significant s...tages of Cavern's development, but also caused a great strain on their relationship, so much so that they split up for a while.Now back with their son and back together, they are enjoying parenthood once more, but say nothing can ever bring back that lost time with their baby.Cassie and Wayne join us today to talk about their ordeal, and resident agony aunt Denise Robertson gives her opinion on the situation, and advice on how they can move on.
http://thismorning.itv.com/thismorning/life/wrongly-accused-abuse

This case is almost the same as what happened to myself.
My first wife and I were accused of hurting my son, Enfield Social Services told me to leave the family home and I was only allowed contact with someone being present. They caused us to divorce. I still have contact with both of my children from that marriage. I moved on and married Sarah, we had a child 'Crystal Walton' she was removed and has now been adopted. I was never charge or convicted of any wrong doing. I also sort to clear my name and suceeded, but 'Crystal Walton' has never been returned!

To read Crystal Walton's full story please visit http://www.crystalwalton.com/

Please remember to sign her Guestbook, THANKS! XXXXX

The Scandal Of The Baby Snatchers

2010-10-22T22:23:00.005+01:00

The Original News Story Of Crystal Walton

(Before any gagging orders!)

Crystal Walton; A pawn in a shameful adoption system!

Two-year-old Crystal Walton smiles at the camera, her blonde hair blowing in the wind. The photograph of the enchanting little girl looks as though it should have pride of place in a treasured family album. Yet nothing could be further from the truth.
This picture was used to advertise Crystal's availability for adoption - appearing in a tabloid national newspaper with an accompanying blurb describing her as a "clever, lively, cheerful toddler" who likes puzzles and swimming.
A phone number was printed alongside for anyone interested in becoming her new parents.
Perhaps a million people saw the heart-breaking advert which had been placed by a London council, and streams of callers offered to take care of her.
Yet that is not the whole story. The truth is that Crystal had become a pawn in an adoption system that should shame
In 2000, Tony Blair set new targets to raise the number of children being adopted by 50 per cent - to a total of 5,400 every year.
He promised millions of pounds to councils that managed to achieve the targets. Some have already received more than £20million for successfully pushing up the number of adoptions.
This sweeping shake-up in social policy was designed for all the right reasons: to get older children languishing in care homes into happy new families with parents.
But the reforms didn't work. Encouraged by the promise of extra cash, councils began to earmark those children who were most easy to place in adoptive homes - babies and cute toddlers such as Crystal.

FULL STORY: http://crystalwalton.com/Me_and_the_Media.html#The_Scandal_Of_The_Baby_Snatchers

500 parents in legal action to win back 'stolen' children taken into care (Sunday Mirror)

2010-10-22T16:18:00.003+01:00

This Story Has Been Re-Instated, Legal Action Be Damned

Part of the 'Crystal Walton Story' along with other families!

Full Story:http://www.crystalwalton.com/Me_and_the_Media.html#500_parents_in_legal_action_to_win_back_

Hundreds of heartbroken parents who claim social services "stole" their children have launched a legal bid to win them back.
The 500 mums and dads say it is impossible to get justice in the UK and have turned to an international court.
Families argue they are the victims of social workers who are over-zealous after cases such as Victoria Climbié and Baby Peter and a process in family courts which is excessively secretive.
They also say that the courts rely too heavily on the opinions of experts or social workers and that it is wrong that there is no right of appeal. The UK now has 64,000 children in care...a 6pc rise since 2006.
If the Court of Human Rights in The Hague backs the new case, it could let parents bring proceedings against councils - and get their children back.

Full Story:http://www.crystalwalton.com/Me_and_the_Media.html#500_parents_in_legal_action_to_win_back_

500 parents in legal action to win back 'stolen' children taken into care

2010-10-10T22:37:00.005+01:00

Part of the 'Crystal Walton Story' along with other families!

This Article Has Been Remove Under Protest and Threat of Legal Action!

The rank hypocrisy of family court judges

2010-09-27T22:01:00.001+01:00

The Crystal Walton Story!

I was gratified this week to find that an article I wrote in December has been quoted in full by the Court of Appeal. (I only hope there were no typos.) It is flattering that Mr Justice Munby takes The Times seriously. It is of more import that he decided to publish his judgment on the case that I wrote about six months ago. For it is only when judges make their reasoning public that we can start to debate the grounds on which children should be taken into care.
A few long-suffering readers may remember that this peculiar case concerns a woman whose baby was removed by social workers, not because the child came to any harm but because there was a suspicion that her father might have injured a child from his previous marriage. That suspicion was never proven, no charges were ever brought and the child of the earlier marriage was never removed. But a woman who everyone agrees is blameless has lost her only child – for ever – because she is deemed to be besotted with a man who may pose a danger.
As so often in these situations, there are complex allegations and flawed characters. In my view it is questionable whether the father’s inability to conceal his loathing of social workers makes him unsuitable for parenthood. Mr Justice Munby has decided on several grounds not to grant an appeal. The case may still go to Strasbourg, but it will be too late: the child will have been adopted.

Full Story: http://crystalwalton.com/Me_and_the_Media.html#The_rank_hypocrisy_of_family_court_judges

Family courts are the B-side of the law

2010-09-27T21:58:00.002+01:00

The Crystal Walton Story!

What a strange, fumbling kind of justice system it is that condemns a woman as an unfit mother for the heinous crime of trusting her husband. Yet this is what seems to have happened in a recent case that I feel compelled to write about, even though legal restrictions force me to leave out much of the detail.
The nub of the case is this. A woman, let us call her Janie, gave birth to her first and only child a year ago. That baby was taken away from her and subsequently put up for adoption. Not because of her own failure to care for the baby — her own love and care never seem to have been in question. No. She has lost her baby because of a suspicion that her husband John may have injured another child in his previous marriage almost ten years ago.
The suspicion was no more than that. John was never charged with anything, let alone convicted. Social workers were never sufficiently worried to take that first child into care. Since his divorce John has shared custody of that child perfectly amicably with his ex-wife. Yet the same local authority which left the first child with him has forbidden him to see this new baby. And his new wife, despite having nothing to do with the first case, may never see her baby again.

Full Story: http://crystalwalton.com/Me_and_the_Media.html#Family_courts_are_the_B-side_of_the_law

Parents of forcibly adopted baby condemn 100 per cent success record of Enfield’s social workers

2010-09-17T13:39:00.004+01:00

I have no problem in naming ourselves; This is the story of Crystal Walton (My Daughter), Sarah Walton (My Wife) Ian Walton (My Self)

Questions have been raised after 100 per cent of applications by Enfield’s social workers to forcibly remove children from their families were approved by the courts in the past four years.
Figures obtained by the Advertiser under the Freedom of Information Act show that in the past four years, every single one of the 43 placement orders Enfield Council has applied for has been granted by the courts.
A placement order authorises a local authority to place a child for adoption where there is no parental consent, or where consent should be dispensed with.
The controversial power of forced adoption is intended to safeguard children from parental abuse or neglect, but serious concerns have been raised over its widespread use and lack of transparency.

The 100 per cent success rate in Enfield cases has led to fears the courts are just
rubber-stamping forced adoptions rather than going against the recommendations made by social workers.
Full Story: http://www.northlondon-today.co.uk/news.cfm?id=32305&headline=Parents%20of%20forcibly%20adopted%20baby%20condemn%20100%20per%20cent%20success%20record%20of%20Enfield’s%20social%20workers

Don't Forget To Sign Our Daughter's Guestbook, and Show You Care!
http://www.crystalwalton.com/Guestbook.php Thank You To Everyone Who Has Supported Us and to Those Who Have Already Signed Her Guestbook!

Crystal Walton at Play with Mummy and Daddy (Sarah and Ian Walton, ourselves)

2010-09-01T15:04:00.002+01:00

Crystal Walton at Play with Mummy and Daddy (Sarah and Ian Walton, ourselves)

19:48 Min

This is the only video of our Daughter 'Crystal Walton' with Sarah & Ian walton playing together as a family. One day the truth will come out and Enfield Social Services will have to pay for the pain they have caused my Sarah and My Self.
If you are the following Social worker or know of them 'BEWARE'!!!
Grace Fagan,
Sarah McClindon,
John Bottemley,
Faith Weekes,
Alison Reedman,
Angela Bennett,
Paul Wanness,
David Lawrence.
You are on my 'WANTED' list.....
P.S. If anybody knows of there where abouts please let me know.
You can email him at ian@stopinjusticenow.com

Social workers who snatched four-day-old baby (ITV London Tonight)

2010-09-01T13:08:00.007+01:00

ITV LONDON TONIGHT!

Social workers who snatched four-day-old baby (ITV London Tonight)

Social workers who snatched four-day-old baby put her up for adoption over unproven abuse claim
Mum’s heartbreaking fight to get her daughter back.
A mum and dad have been told they will never see their young daughter again… after she was snatched away at only four days old.
Tiny Baby A was taken from her mum by social workers who claimed the tot, who we will call Emily, was at risk in the family home.
Not because of the mum’s failure to care for her – but because of a six-year-old unproven claim that her husband had injured his son from a previous marriage.
Yet, although interviewed by police, he never faced a criminal court over that allegation. And he has even been allowed unsupervised access to watch his boy grow up.
Now the High Court, in a devastating civil court ruling, has decided that a decision to forcibly adopt Emily – now aged four – away from her parents (who we are calling Tania and Stephen) must stand.
Revealing her agony for the first time, mum Tania said: “I had my beautiful baby girl snatched from me at just four days old. Only a mother could understand the horror of that.
“My only crime is that I love and trust my husband. I don’t believe he could ever harm a child, and the courts have been unable to prove it. I have already missed years of Emily’s childhood.”
Stephen, in his 40s, married Tania, in her mid-20s, in 2003. Almost a year after their wedding Tania gave birth to Emily in hospital and they were overjoyed to take her home two days later. But they were to enjoy just two days alone with their little girl before she was taken from them. Social workers claimed there was a danger her dad would hurt her because of the case six years earlier.
Stephen had been married before and has a 10-year-old son, Jamie. When he was eight weeks old, Jamie was taken to hospital with a suspected brain injury and was found to have suffered bleeding behind his eyes. The episode left him permanently disabled, and he now has cerebral palsy. A medical expert said that he had been shaken viciously.
Stephen, who also has a 12-year-old daughter from the previous marriage, said: “Doctors couldn’t tell for certain what was wrong with Jamie. But one came up with a theory it could be ‘shaken baby syndrome’, even though there was no conclusive evidence.
"My wife and I were told that care proceedings were being started. It was heartbreaking to be accused of harming your own child. I vehemently denied doing anything wrong, but no one listened.”
A whole year later – during which time Jamie stayed with his parents and came to no further harm – the couple were taken to a family court in London, where a judge concluded on the basis of an expert’s opinion that the child’s injuries had been caused by one of his parents.
The possibility that the baby had an inherited condition, provoking the same symptoms, was never explored.
And the theory put forward by the family’s lawyers that he banged his head on a baby bouncer while playing with another child was not accepted.
However, social workers in Enfield, North London, finally allowed Jamie to remain with his birth parents under daily supervision. And seven months later the local authority was impressed enough with their parenting to drop the visits.
And there the story might have ended if Stephen and his wife hadn’t split up at the end of 2000. They were granted, and still enjoy, joint custody of the boy and remain good friends. Stephen, whose first wife also backs his adoption fight, sees Jamie regularly and often spends time with him alone.
It was only when – almost four years later – Stephen remarried and his new wife Tania became pregnant that the social workers reappeared. Stephen, who himself has multiple sclerosis and walks with a stick, said: “Tania has no other children and we were both overjoyed to be having a baby.”
Then, when she was eight months pregnant, Stephen developed a heart problem and had to be rushed to hospital. He says social workers visited him at his bedside and handed him a letter saying they were starting emergency childcare proceedings for their unborn child.
I could barely breathe because of the shock,” he says. “It had been six years since Jamie’s case and I’d had no contact with social workers.”
Emily was born in December 2004. When she was just four days old, social workers burst into their home and took her away.
Tania said: “Stephen’s parents were visiting. We were missing an ingredient for dinner, and Stephen and his dad popped to the shops. While they were out social workers knocked on the door. They walked straight in, picked up Emily in her moses basket and walked out again.
“I was screaming and crying, begging them not to take her, grabbing at their arms.”
Social workers warned Tania she would only stand a chance of getting Emily back if she left her husband.
“We had no choice,” said Tania. “We decided I would go to live with my parents a few miles away and we would fight in court to be reunited as a family.”
Emily was returned to Tania the following day after a court injunction was obtained ordering Stephen to keep away from her.
But social workers were unhappy that Tania and her family remained close to Stephen.
“I often visited Stephen on my own, which was allowed under the injunction,” she said.
“He asked me to text him if Emily ever woke in the night because he wanted to be involved, and I did that.
But for some reason, social workers wanted me to hate him and cut him out of our lives.”
Four months later, in April 2005, Emily was taken from her mother for a second time. Tania had been branded unfit to look after Emily simply because she trusted her husband.
Tania said: “I had taken Emily to visit my grandparents. But while I was there, two police cars turned up with a social worker. They burst into the house and snatched Emily from me again. I was in shock – I couldn’t believe what was happening. They said I had been ‘conspiring’ with Stephen. They thought we were going to kidnap Emily.”
Social workers said Tania was too mild-mannered to be able to protect Emily from Stephen. At that point Emily was put into a foster home, and Stephen and Tania were allowed to visit her once a week for an hour.
“It was so emotional,” said Tania. “I tried my hardest to be happy around Emily. But I cried uncontrollably before and after we saw her.”
The couple have video footage taken on July 18, 2006, of them with Emily, and say they look happy and at ease together. At one point, they say the little girl puts her arms out to her mother, who picks her up and kisses her.
Touchingly, Tania says when she asks Emily where her daddy is, the toddler turns and points at Stephen. But already the clock was ticking towards their daughter’s adoption.
Within a few weeks, the couple were told new parents were being sought for their little girl. And they were horrified when they came across an advert in a glossy magazine offering her up for adoption.
The beautiful blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl was smiling at them from the page. The accompanying blurb described her as a bright, happy girl who likes swimming and games.
A phone number was printed alongside for anyone interested in becoming her parents. Tania said: “Our daughter was essentially being put up for sale in a magazine and under her own name. We hadn’t even been warned. It was despicable.”
At the time Enfield officials took Emily away, councils were under pressure to raise the number of children they had adopted by 50 per cent.
Tony Blair had promised millions of pounds to councils that managed to achieve targets. The aim was to get older children in care homes into new families.
But councils found it easier to place babies and cute toddlers such as Emily, and thousands of children under four were removed from their families across the country.
In October 2006 the couple saw Emily for the last time.
Stephen, his eyes filling with tears, said: “We didn’t know that then. We had arranged to see her, but the meeting was suddenly cancelled five minutes beforehand. Presumably a new family had been found. We didn’t even get to say a proper goodbye. It breaks my heart to think she doesn’t know why we aren’t there for her.”
In a desperate bid to beat the system, Stephen and Tania took Enfield Council to the Court of Appeal in March 2007. They asked for a stay of execution on the adoption while their case was heard by the European Court of Human Rights. But it was refused.
The couple did not give up there. Last month they were allowed to challenge the initial accusation against Stephen at the High Court. There they were backed by top europathologist Dr Waney Squier, who believes there is no evidence that the boy’s injuries were caused by her father.
In the three-day hearing, Dr Squier told the court the injuries were not consistent with Shaken Baby Syndrome. She said that, crucially, he had no other marks or injuries on his body to suggest he had been shaken violently.
She told the court that 85 per cent of autopsies in shaking cases have additional bruising or other injury. And she said the force required to produce bleeding behind the eyes would inevitably cause damage to the neck.
But the local authority’s expert Dr Neil Stoodley disagreed and said the injuries were consistent with SBS.
However the argument was based just on medical notes, because Jamie’s original brain scans had been lost.
The couple lost their final chance of halting the adoption when Mr Justice Mark Hedley, who described the decision as “agonising”, sided with the council and upheld the care order.
In what he described as a “dreadful conundrum”, he said: “Wrongly to find that there has been an NAHI (non-accidental head injury) is to risk tearing apart an innocent family – a shocking thing to happen.
“Likewise, wrongly failing to find NAHI where such in fact occurred is to risk returning a child to a situation of high or even fatal risk, as notorious cases have sadly demonstrated.
“The consequences of a judicial error in these cases are calamitous.”
The judge praised the parents’ persistence, saying: “The father’s belief in his innocence and the injustice done to his family is genuinely held.”
He also said there was not enough evidence for police to bring a trial on the initial child-abuse allegations. But he said there was still no new evidence to undermine the original findings.
The couple have vowed to appeal against the decision, but they are running out of time. Once Emily is officially adopted, it is British law that she can never be returned to her parents – even if they are found innocent.
Clinging on to each other in their living room, with walls covered in photos of Emily, the couple say they cannot bear to have another child.
Stephen said: “My health is getting worse and I do not want to go through the agony of having another baby taken away from us by the state.”
The couple are prepared to go to the European Court of Human Rights if their appeal fails.
But Stephen said: “The European court cannot reunite us with our daughter – all we would get is monetary compensation, which means nothing to us when all we want is our little girl back.”
-For legal reasons, the real names of the people involved have been changed to protect their identities.

'''Although I have identified our selves'''

Please sign my my Daughter's guestbook at http://www.crystalwalton.com/Guestbook.php Many Thanks!

If you know where my Daughter is please email me at ian@stopinjusticenow.com

Stop Injustice Now; Back on-line

2010-08-15T00:27:00.001+01:00

We are pleased to tell you that 'Stop Injustice Now' will be posting new news items very soon! Watch this space.

‘Stop Injustice Now’ Blog Site!

2009-10-30T15:14:00.002Z

‘Stop Injustice Now’ Blog Site!: "Baby Ps stepfather Steven Barker has had a poster of himself removed after he complained it damaged his reputation.
At this was the man jailed in May for causing or allowing the death of Baby Peter, you wonder what one that couldnt get any worse?
This monster (how does that sit with your reputation MATE, A photo with the same words is attached to this story, try to stop me you Bastard)?
Grew up violently abusing small animals then moved on to defenceless children, including Baby P and the rape of a two year old girl.
It is why animal rights group Peta used a picture of him in a poster with the words People who are violent towards animals rarely stop there.
But Barkers lawyers demanded it was taken down because it was libellous, suggesting Barker murdered Baby P the courts couldnt agree which of Baby Ps three torturers finally killed him.
It is beyond belief this sicko, who destroyed the lives of two small children, has the arrogance to wave the human rights card. It just shows he is more worried about saving his own skin than demonstrating any remorse for his vile crimes. In Barkers case, a life sentence must absolutely mean LIFE."

Woman dubbed 'not bright' enough to marry, now faces baby being removed when she gives birth

2009-10-18T22:04:00.001+01:00

http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/october/18/02.htm

A pregnant young woman,whose wedding was halted by social workers in an extraordinary row over whether she is bright enough to marry, is to have her baby boy forcefully removed from her at birth.
Kerry Robertson, 17, who has mild learning difficulties, was this week told during a meeting with social workers they believe she is also not ëintelligent enoughí to look after her baby, due in January.
She will be allowed just a few hours with her baby, whom she has already named Ben. But she and fiance Mark McDougall, 25, will not be allowed to leave the hospital with Ben and he will then be placed with foster parents.
She said yesterday: "I couldn't believe it when they told me I wouldnít be allowed to bring my baby home. I feel sick all the time.
"I am so upset I donít know what to do with myself. I know I am having a little boy and so I have already started buying baby clothes and am getting a nursery ready for him. But now I can't take it in. I don't want to think about January and I canít stop crying."
Last month Kerry, who is 26 weeks pregnant, was told her wedding was being halted just 48 hours before she was due to walk up the aisle because, according to social services, she 'did not understand the implications of getting married'.
Her fiance Mark, an artist, added: "Seeing Kerry so upset is absolutely heartbreaking and I am very worried that all this stress she is under will affect our unborn baby's health.
"We're just devastated by this and at the moment we just don't know how we are going to cope in January. We have both already bonded with Ben and I can't even begin to think what it will be like coming home without him.

Judge condemns Jack Straw's 'haste' on media access to family courts

2009-10-18T22:03:00.000+01:00

http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/october/18/01.htm

The most senior family judge in England and Wales urged ministers not to rush ahead with controversial plans to allow greater media access to family court hearings.
Sir Mark Potter, President of the High Court Family Division, said that he was concerned about the haste involved with the latest plans from Jack Straw and warned that they may lead judges to exclude the press altogether.
Despite concerns already expressed by judges, lawyers and others over the plans, Mr Straw, the Justice Secretary, plans to include the changes in the Schools and Safeguarding Children Bill in the new session of Parliament.
The Justice Secretary has said that opening up family hearings in April to the media was being undermined by reporting restrictions.
He intends to allow the media acccess to confidential medical and social work reports, subject to anonymity provisions, in a move that would allow the media to name and shame social workers.
But Sir Mark told a conference of family lawyers this week that even interim rules, pending the legislation, should not be rushed.

Is it right to take children away from parents at birth?

2009-09-24T12:00:00.000+01:00

http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/september/22/09.htm

The head of Barnardo's, Martin Narey, has called for more babies to be taken away at birth from parents who have "failed" with their previous children.
It follows fresh concern over a generation of "feral" children in the wake of the case of the two boys aged 10 and 12 who battered, tortured and sexually abused two other children in Edlington near Doncaster.
The pair had come from a chaotic home where they were exposed to drink, drugs and violence from an early age and had a long history of involvement with police and social services.
In the words of the father of one of their victims: "My kid plays with Lego... they play with knives."
Mr Narey, who as a former director general of the Prison Service knows the criminal justice system inside out, believes that some families simply cant be fixed and wants the authorities to move in earlier to give children a chance of a better life.
He said that social services should not be afraid of taking children into care and ultimately sending them to new families.
It sounds terrible, but I think we try too hard with birth parents," he said.
"If we really cared about the interests of the child, we would take children away as babies and put them into permanent adoptive families, where we know they will have the best possible outcome.
Ann Widdecombe, the former prisons minister, has praised Mr Narey as courageous.
"We all know what we are talking about here, we are talking about families where there is a persistent pattern of failure," she said.
But others warned against "nanny state interference".

Britain’s child protection laws create ‘spoilt generation’ with no respect for adults or authority, psychologist claims

2009-09-24T11:59:00.000+01:00

http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/september/22/08.htm

Britains child protection laws have created a spoilt generation with no respect for adults or authority, according to a prominent psychologist.
Dr Aric Sigman claims young people are growing up unprepared for the realities of adult life as parents, teachers and police have lost the power to discipline them.
His new book cites as proof a leaflet left in courts asking visitors politely not to carry knives.
Dr Sigman who believes under-threes should be banned from watching television and fears that social networking websites such as Facebook may damage the health says the sense of entitlement now enjoyed by children is contributing to increased crime, obesity, underage pregnancy and binge-drinking on the countrys streets.
Ahead of the party conference season, he wants politicians to draw up laws that would curtail young peoples rights and reassert the authority of adults, as well as encouraging mothers to care for their babies at home and introducing compulsory civic service.
Dr Sigman, an Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society, said: Authority is a basic health requirement in children's lives. But, while children have become increasingly 'empowered' in terms of legislation and rights, far from being protected, they are actually suffering in ways that could never have been foreseen.
Children of the spoilt generation are used to having their demands met by their parents and others in authority, and that in turn makes them unprepared for the realities of adult life - this has consequences in every area of society, from the classroom to the workplace, the streets to the criminal courts and rehabilitation clinics.
There is now an urgent moral and legal imperative incumbent upon legislators to help restore authority to children's lives. Adults must be legally empowered to deal with both their own and other people's children without the fear that they may be confronted or prosecuted for doing so.

Haringey Council under pressure over social services

2009-09-24T11:58:00.000+01:00

http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/september/22/21.htm

CALLS are growing for a public inquiry into Haringey Council's social services department, in the wake of revelations a child was placed in foster care with relatives of a Muslim terrorist.
Lynne Featherstone, MP for Hornsey and Wood Green, reacted with horror to the disclosure, and demanded answers from council chiefs.
She said: We need answers now to ensure that no other child has, or will, be in danger when they are placed in care.
After the awful tragedy of Baby Peter and the clear failures made by Haringey Council, these new revelations show further evidence of the need for a root and branch review of Haringey Councils childrens services that only a Public Inquiry can provide.
The council is under pressure after it was revealed a child was place into foster care with relatives of Abdullah Ahmed Ali, one of three men convicted of conspiracy to murder for planning to kill thousands by blowing up planes using liquid bombs disguised as soft drinks cans.
Shadow Children's Secretary Michael Gove MP, shadow children's secretary, has called for immediate disclosure of the vetting procedures in place for foster parents in Haringey.
He said: Its truly frightening to think that the social services department of this council placed a child with a terrorist, and even more so to think that the child could
Haringey Council has been criticised for placing a child in the care of relatives of a terrorist have been used as part of the foil for the bomb plot.

We need to protect Whistle Blowing social workers

2009-09-24T11:57:00.002+01:00

http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/september/22/07.htm

Too many social workers' careers have crumbled after they raised concerns
In social work at present it never rains but it pours. At a time of continuing public scrutiny, the last thing the sector needs is to be told that nearly half of those frontline social workers who plucked up courage to blow the whistle about poor practice or workplace problems subsequently reported that their employer failed to tackle the issues raised.
The findings, in a survey of more than 500 social workers by the General Social Care Council, confirms what many staff already know. Too often raising concerns at work, never mind blowing the whistle, is a bad career move.
However, 45% worried that their employer would not take action if they raised concerns about a colleague, and nearly half of those who had reported problems about colleagues or "operational difficulties" said their employer had taken no action.
The GSCC has had bad press recently, but the publication of this survey ought to earn it a few bonus marks, not least the GSCC's acceptance that victimisation and career damage were the most common fears of those who said they would not speak up.
Unfortunately this is nothing new. There is a long roll call of those social workers whose careers nosedived after raising concerns, most recently Nevres Kemal whose whistleblowing in Haringey was ignored and led to her unfair dismissal when it ought to have set alarm bells ringing.
The survey results were published on the day that the Unison convenor in Doncaster who has been repeatedly critical of the culture within the council was suspended immediately after speaking out about what he alleged were budgetary pressures distorting professional decisions in child protection.
The failure of staff to whistleblow in the NHS cost dozens of lives at Mid Staffs and Maidstone hospitals in recent years. In social care, the costs are less obvious but no less disastrous. Although social workers and their managers are required as a condition of continued registration to highlight concerns and speak up for those they work with, the inexorable pressure on resources, excessive caseloads and inappropriate delegation of work are a potentially lethal cocktail.
The pressures go to the top. I have spoken to a number of very senior managers who have expressed their concerns at the consequences of questioning budgets and unsafe or unethical resource led decisions. One told me "you can spell out the consequences of inadequate budgets but if you keep waving shrouds, you'll eventually have a P45 waved back at you". Their reluctance to speak out is despite the fact that they would automatically have statutory protection as whistleblowers should they suffer detriment as a result.

Bonnie Lewis Kidnapped By The State They Gagged UK Column And No2Abuse On This Story Copy And Paste It All Over The internet

2009-09-24T11:57:00.001+01:00

http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/september/22/06.htm

Bonnie Lewis Kidnapped by the State
Investigation into the scandalous abuse of a young girl by the Neath Port Talbot State Child
Protection Machinery.
As Social Services get power to section parents as mentally ill - why every parent in Britain should
be fighting for the safety of their children and Child Courts that are open to the full Public scrutiny.
Sick, in constant pain, and frightened after months of medical incompetence, 12 year old Bonnie
Lewis was deliberately and deceitfully taken from her mother by Port Talbot Social Services.
Their aim? Probably to meet government fostering and adoption targets, which reward Councils.
And to help the NHS cover up medical blunders.
This true story is a wake-up call to every parent in UK. Every child is now at risk of kidnapping
by the State, as Social Services can manipulate the law with impunity. Recent new
draconian laws also give social workers powers to section parents who fight back as being
mentally ill. They can then be incarcerated indefinitely. Welcome to the Blair - Brown created
UK soviet. Secret and corrupt courts, mental institutions and collusion between public authorities,
NHS and police.
In our June edition we printed the harrowing story of a very sick young girl called Bonnie.
Kidnapped at gunpoint by police in Florida, the US authorities had in fact been duped' by a
conspiracy of lies concocted by Neath Port Talbot Social Services, Bonnie's loving mother and
grandfather looked on totally helpless as their daughter was taken into care in UK. She never
lived with them again. SS officials used falsified evidence, unlawful passports, and operated in a
deceitful collusion with Hospitals, Courts, Foreign & Commonwealth Office and MPs. Local
police assisted the process.
Devious Social Services staff duped US Social Services into believing that Bonnie had been
diagnosed as suffering from Maunchausen by Proxy, and they submitted a pick up order to
the US authorities, before flying to Florida to kidnap Bonnie.
Even Judge Evans, stated in his had made saying that the child should not be removed from the
jurisdiction was in fact made the day after the child had in fact left the jurisdiction. He added..
and I wanted to make it abundantly clear [to the US Authorities] that I said as far as I was concerned
firstly the child had already left when I made that order so it didnt seem to me that there
was any breach of that order. The judge also indicated that he only had information supplied
by Ms Rzezniczek.
The Judges words clearly indicate that Mrs Lewis and her father had not breached any order
in taking Bonnie to the USA. In that case the question has to be asked - on what authority
did Neath Port Talbot SS and Ms Rzezniczek obtain a passport for Bonnie, and under what
authority did they then take Bonnie from her mother in the USA.
Mrs Rzezniczek Head of Neath Port Talbot Children and Young People Services. Her
responsibilities include leading on child protection, looked after children, fostering and adoption.
Working towards closer relationships with schools and health agencies to deliver a more integrated
service for children and families.
This action, taken without proper legal authority, mirrors the recent admission that Birmingham
Social Services sent five children to the Jersey childrens care home without the necessary
court orders.
After personal investigation, Neath Port Talbot Cllr Davies was prepared to write in a personal
statement dated 2002....
I believe that we [Neath Port Talbot Borough Council] were not entitled to go there
(USA), we relied on Orders that were invalid and there is a possibility that we may have
misled the Courts when those original orders were made.
These are very serious allegations by Cllr Davies, but what action he took inside the Council
is unclear. Allegedly he was threatened.
The kidnap followed major medical mistakes and incompetence in South Wales hospitals.
Passed from one hospital to the next, with no diagnosis or treatment, the desperate mother
eventually sought help from Social Services. This was a huge mistake, which was ultimately
to result in Bonnies kidnap by the SS.
Yet from the time that she was taken by Social Services, Bonnie remained in pain. The same
pain for which her mother and grandfather had worked tirelessly to obtain a proper diagnosis
and treatment. What parent wouldnt?
The mothers reward for her justifiable parental concern was to be branded mentally unwell
and to have her child taken by the State. In doing so, SS officials callously brushed off the
daughters terror at the kidnap in Florida. Then an ordinary social worker, Julie Rzezniczek
described Bonnies trauma at being forcibly taken from her family as being....Tearful..
In the subsequent Contract for Contact, Social Services deliberately and specifically prevented
any discussion between Mrs Lewis and her daughter concerning Bonnies health, illness
or pain. Letters from Bonnie all had to be given to Ms Rzezniczek before they were passed on.
Denied free speech, Bonnie did manage to smuggle out harrowing letters detailing her pain
and longing to come home. None of these were taken into account by Social Services or the
Courts. Blocked behind a Barnados guardian, this little girl was no longer permitted to show
love for her family, or express her feelings.
Bonnie has still not been re-united with her mother. Now adult, she remains held and apparently
controlled in a strange world of Social Services contacts, who have aggressively blocked
attempts by the family to see their daughter.
At the age of 16 Bonnie met her Grandfather in the street. This was the man she had loved
and thought the world of. As he greeted her, she shrank back, and warned him....Granddad, dont
come near me. Theyll know. Theyll know. You mustn't. Sensing his granddaughter's distress,
and fearful for her, he walked on. Programmed and controlled by Neath Port Talbot SS, Bonnie
was now lost in a psychological prison called British child protection. Her strange
was, and still is, totally contrary to the loving letters which she smuggled to her family.
Just what did the SS do to this childs mind?
The June UK Column story produced instant response from the general public. Telephone
calls from parents reporting yet more SS child snatch cases, further information on the Bonnie
case (including allegations of threats by police officers), calls and letters of support for
the work of the paper, demands by Port Talbot Council that they did not want more copies of
the Column.
A few members of the public couldnt believe that the story was true. And this is a critical
point. Not only is Bonnies story true, but the facts of the case are mirrored in thousands of
other cases of child stealing by the state that have occurred in UK over the last 30 years.
Something evil is at work in Great Britain, and it is targeting our children. Just consider
the revelation that Birmingham Social services sent children to Jersey, and now has no record
of them. Most worryingly this is an evil backed and supported by top level government ministers
using secret family courts.
The UK Column promised to continue to help the Lewis family expose the truth. We are
therefore publishing excerpts and quoting from the official documents and letters concerning
the case. Painstakingly obtained by the family, these have all been duplicated for safekeeping.
It is this evidence which must be brought into the light, if our children are to be safely brought
up by their loving families, and not by an increasingly domineering and prescriptive state
machinery.
The original charges made by the UK Column against Neath Port Talbot Social Services
and local hospitals included:
Failure to diagnose a serious illness. Removal of a healthy appendix by Neath Hospital
with no license to operate.
Cover-up of the severe post operative abscess. Excessive prescription of drugs, some not approved
for use on children. Negligent prescription of oral morphine. Incorrect discharge and prescription
forms. Confused and incompetent hospital referrals, examination and treatment. False denial of
Bonnies pain by Doctors and Social Workers, in
Instead of supporting Mrs Lewis to obtain proper treatment for Bonnie, evidence shows
a number of doctors conspired with Neath Port Talbot Social Services to silence the mother by
branding her mentally ill / unstable and taking Bonnie into care.
Not happy with destroying the family, Social Services then failed to treat Bonnie and left her
in pain and isolated from her family .
Bonnies smuggled letters (actual handwritten letters opposite page), show her trauma and
ongoing pain at the hand of cold callous Social Services minders. The following letters are in
her own words. March 19th 1998 ...they are the only things two things that I want is to be out of
pain and back home with you all.
June 1998 she says (in her own words): I love my Nan and Granddad and my pain if
I say it to my Mum they will stop contact never see you again. Julie Rzezniczek and the Guardian
have told me I am never coming home.
September 1999....Please please help me I miss you all so mum. I hate living with Julie.
I just want to be home and I am still in the same pain.

Cornwall child abuse charges, two charged

2009-09-24T11:55:00.000+01:00

http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/september/22/05.htm

A 45-year old man arrested following a child abuse investigation by Cornwall police has been charged with 24 offences of sexual assault on a child.
He has been named as Alan Wills.
a 50-year-old man has also been charged with four offences of sexual assault on a child. He is David Beckett.
Both men will appear at Truro Crown Court on October 16 and are currently on bail.
A 29-year-old man understood to be from the Camborne area has been released without charge.

Secret agenda to score adoptions

2009-09-24T11:54:00.002+01:00

http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/september/22/04.htm

A judge has condemned the "disgraceful" conduct of social workers over an adoption case, says Christopher Booker.
The revealing of the names of those responsible for the killing of Baby P reminded us yet again of the failure of Haringey social workers to avert the child's death. What a shocking contrast this provides to the behaviour of East Sussex social workers in the case I reported a month ago, which led to their seizure and putting out for adoption of a girl, now seven years old, from a respectable middle-class home, to the anguish of both her parents and the little girl herself.
The chief reason offered by the social workers for abducting the girl two years ago was that her home had been left in an appalling mess after a raid by RSPCA officials and 18 policemen. They ransacked the premises looking for non-existent guns, and released into the house a pack of dogs kept in kennels outside by her father, a professional dog-breeder. The parents were arrested for protesting at what was happening (the mother suffering a miscarriage while in police custody) and the social workers were summoned to remove their daughter.
Everything about this case is bizarre, not least the apparent complicity of social workers, lawyers and the courts in determining that the child should not be returned to her parents, as she wishes, but rather, after two years in foster care, sent for adoption.
I have now been able to read through many papers relating to the case, including the judgments resulting from the 74 hearings in which the parents attempted to get their daughter back. What stands out is the startling contrast between the two totally different versions of the case given by the social workers and the courts on one hand and, on the other, that presented by the parents themselves and by many who knew them. The latter include their GP, who recently wrote that he had never "encountered such a case of appalling injustice".
The most impressive document was a report by an independent social worker, based on many interviews with those involved, including the child herself and the chief social worker in charge of her. In measured terms, this made mincemeat of the council's case. Nothing about it is more suspicious than the contrast between descriptions of the "clean and tidy" home reported by those who knew the family well and the mess allegedly found by the policemen who burst into it mob-handed on the day in question.
The report found an equally glaring contrast between the social workers' insistence that the child was quite happy to have been removed from her parents, and the abundant evidence, observed at first-hand, that the little girl had an extremely good relationship with her parents and wants nothing more than to be reunited with them. The courts seem to have totally ignored this report, whose author last month expressed astonishment that the child had not been returned home.
What has also come to light is a remarkable judgment by Lord Justice Thorpe and Lord Justice Wall in the Appeal Court last year, in another case which also involved the apparently ruthless determination of East Sussex social workers to send a child for adoption. The judges were fiercely critical. The social workers' conduct, said Lord Justice Thorpe, could only reinforce the suspicions of those who believe "councils have a secret agenda to establish a high score of children they have placed for adoption".

Details on foster children kept from carers, says report by Fostering Network

2009-09-24T11:54:00.001+01:00

http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/september/22/03.htm

Thousands of foster carers are welcoming children into their homes without being given the full facts about the childrens past, including whether they were victims of abuse.
More than half of all foster carers in Britain (51 per cent) say that in the past three years they have been given inadequate information about a child in their care, which has put themselves, their own children and even the foster child at risk.
A third of carers said that they were not told about the childs full medical requirements, almost half were not informed about a history of abuse and two thirds said that they were not made aware of a childs general behaviour.
The research was conducted by the Fostering Network, which represents the 43,000 foster carers in Britain, and comes a decade after two court rulings made clear that local authorities could be sued for failing to meet a duty of care towards foster families. Despite this, social workers are routinely failing to pass on all the necessary information despite assurances that they regard foster carers as equal partners in their work.
Robert Tapsfield, the chief executive of the Fostering Network, said that the findings were extremely worrying. The system is clearly failing to provide foster carers with the information and support they need to care for children safely, putting them, their families and the children in their care at risk, he said. It is accepted and agreed that local authorities have a duty of care to foster carers and their families, as well as to children in care. The regulations and standards are not being implemented, despite high-profile court rulings, and this is cause for great concern. Foster carers should be treated as childcare experts and equal members of the childcare workforce. They are professionals and should be recognised, respected and supported as such.
Mr Tapsfield will meet Baroness Morgan of Drefelin, the Childrens Minister, and request that she write to all local authorities to remind them of their legal duty to ensure that all foster carers are fully informed about the children in their care.
Joanna Nicolas, an independent social worker, said that problems were caused by too many placements being made in a hurry once a previous placement had broken down.
Staff were forced to fill in numerous forms, repeating the same basic information, and so did not have enough time to sit down with the new foster carer and explain the potential risks and problems, she said.
Ms Nicolas also believes that too many social workers are confused about their legal duties with regard to sharing information on a child. For many social workers it may appear like a grey area. The law makes clear that in matters of child protection, any data protection and human rights issues are overridden. But if it is a lower-level concern, such as a child in need, social workers do not have the right to share information without parental consent, so a lot of fine judgments have to be made, she said.

War on Women and Children by Maggie Tuttle

2009-09-24T11:53:00.000+01:00

http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/september/22/02.htm

In 1943 I was born in Winston Green Prison Birmingham to a woman who called herself a mother. She was to me the wickedest woman on the planet; she was sentenced because she had gone to London heavily pregnant with me and left a two year old and three year old to look after themselves in the streets at the time my father was serving in the war. On her release from prison a judge order that I be kept at home with her to help stabilize her, my two sisters went into foster care.
So for 13 years I had to endure being beaten, starved, no education, locked for days in a room whilst she was out or away. I had no voice, and at the age of seven I jumped from the bedroom window so that I could end a terrible life; sadly at the time I lived. Who gave a damn and where were the do-gooders, and the judges?
I was just one of millions of children worldwide forced by governments to live a life that there are no words to describe to anyone, nor would anyone understand the plights of abused children, unless they have lived through the same situation.
It is a fact that apart from my two sisters in foster care, I have three other sisters buried in the Leicester cemetery and one child who she burnt in the garden.
She (I can never utter that word M as I never had a true M) left when I was 13 and since then my father who was a good man but totally influenced by her, and had been since the day he married her, suddenly gave me all the things a child should have food, care and love. But most of all he allowed me freedom of speech. Wow can you imagine I am allowed to say what I want at the age of 13?
So here we are, she has gone, and I then made a vow to myself, there will never be anyone in this world to ever rule me or my brain again. For this reason I have never once in my life taken drugs or alcohol. No man, women, politician or government will ever tell me what to do, not without an argument or after they have finished what they started out to do, which is to kill me via their system.
But tell me; has life for a child from my days changed for the better? NO, it has got worse, and still grandparents and dads have no rights, unless they can afford the courts, and in most cases they still get no rights.
Moving On
At the age of 17, I left Leicester and went to London, from where I studied music for two years. After two years I started travelling the world in show biz as a singer, and it was from here I got educated.
On my travels no matter where I was in the world, I was made aware of the childrens sufferings, maybe I kept seeing myself as a child, but my tears were there for them. You cannot go to university or sit in an office or a court and know of the torture of how children are abused and threatened that if they speak out to anyone about what is happening to them they will fear for their little lives, perhaps more beatings, sexual assaults, oh my God the pain.
I remember speaking to a lady who said she was abused by the system, locked in a room for days alone, and for a drink had to drink her own urine. She was age 5. And so it went on until she was able to run away.

Transcript of speech made to the House of Commons, by Sue Reid

2009-09-24T11:52:00.000+01:00

http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/september/22/01.htm

It will sound more like life in Stalin'sRussia or Englands Dark Ageswhen women were convicted of witchcrafton concocted allegations, thenburned at the stake.
Yet the destruction of British familiesin the name of state childprotection has frightening similarities.
And it is being encouraged by theGovernment, the legal system, themedical establishment and above all ourby the fatally flawed social services.
In the 22 years since the Cleveland childabuse scandal, when 121children were ripped from innocentfamilies on the say-so of a maverickgroup of doctors and social workers verylittle has changed for thebetter in child protection.
If anything, things have got worse. Andat the heart of the problem arethe deceptively named family courts,which operate behind shut doors inevery town and city up and down the land.

Vetting contact rule under review

2009-09-14T21:12:00.000+01:00

http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/september/14/01.htm

The government is to look again at how a new vetting system for those working with children will operate.
England's Children's Secretary Ed Balls said it was "tremendously important" to define "frequent or intensive" contact correctly.
He has asked the chairman of the new Independent Safeguarding Authority to review this and report by December.
The Tories said the plan was still too "vague" amid fears it could affect the running of sport and other clubs.
Mr Balls stressed the rules would not apply where, for example, parents agreed to give friends' children "a lift to school or to Cubs".
"Nor will it cover instances where parents work with children at school or a youth club on 'an occasional or one-off basis'."
He announced the reappraisal in a letter to the chairman of the Commons children, schools and families committee, Barry Sheerman.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Grayling said: "All of this is so vague that in reality clubs and other organisations up and down the country will act to be on the safe side.
"So they'll register all of the parents who are involved even loosely. So the result is we'll get this huge expensive and cumbersome bureaucracy as well as volunteers giving up."
Lib Dem home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne welcomed the review as the plans "were so disproportionate that they were going to put off masses of people from volunteering".
Children's charity the NSPCC said new procedures were needed but called on the government to provide more detailed information about how the scheme would work.
It said the new scheme "must be introduced carefully, in a way that does not inadvertently penalise children, weaken community relationships, or provide parents with a false sense of security".
Mr Balls said the scheme had been introduced via legislation in parliament, following the Bichard inquiry into the murders of two schoolgirls in Soham.
It requires those working with children or with vulnerable adults, either on a paid or voluntary basis, to be on a register of suitability which employers can check.
The system will be phased in from next month and will operate in England, Wales and Northern Ireland from next year. A different scheme is being introduced in Scotland.
'Misleading'
Mr Balls said there had generally been very strong support for the scheme during extensive consultation.
"Recently, however, some concerns have been expressed about the precise interpretation of a particular aspect of the scheme; that is, the degree of contact with children which should trigger the requirement to register," he added.
There had been "some inaccurate and misleading reports".

NEW BATCH OF PERSONALITY DISORDERS DISCOVERED

2009-09-11T23:00:00.002+01:00

http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/september/11/08.htm

A doctor who was commissioned by the family courts to do research on personality disorders has revealed there are many more than first thought.
Dr Pindick was paid Pfund1000567987 by a family judge to assess thousands of parents whos children had been removed by social services.
He discovered that the new personality disorders include
loath and despise syndrome ..... a parents hatred of social workers
your all corrupt lying bastards syndrome..... a parents hatred of family courts.
stick your order up your arse syndrome....... parents refusing to be gagged.
He also discovered a new strain of turrets after observing many parents using language such as " fuck ss, fuck CAFCASS, all lying bastards, twats, Wankers "
He proclaimed these to be wildly abnormal and sectioned all parents to a mental institution on remote island in the Hebrides.
Our reporter visited the hospital and witnessed thousands of parents wearing a straight gag which is a new device fitted around the mouth to prevent them saying obscenities.

Adoption parties aim to match parents with hard-to-place children

2009-09-11T23:00:00.001+01:00

http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/september/11/07.htm

Youngsters repeatedly passed over by potential adoptive parents are to meet families over food, drink and games.
Adoption parties that bring hard-to-place children together with prospective parents over food, drinks and games are to be held by the British Association for Adoption and Fostering.
The agency hopes that the controversial events will increase the chances of finding homes for young people repeatedly passed over by potential adoptive parents, such as those aged over five, sibling groups, children of black and minority ethnic origin, and those with mental and physical disabilities.
"It's true that these parties show we are moving up the tariff of risk in the ways we are being forced to seek out families for these children," admitted Mo O'Reilly, director of child placement for the BAAF. "But the truth is that if we don't take this step, these children face the even greater risk of remaining unplaced, perhaps for ever. The project will help children for whom all other family-finding methods have failed and who face a life of multiple moves around foster homes.
"We need to go to the next level for these children," she said. "At the moment, they're not finding families because their disadvantages are building up in the adopters' imaginations, stopping them being able to see the ordinary children behind their difficult circumstances or behaviours.
"This is not just about putting some jelly and ice-cream in a parish hall and inviting everyone along," she added. "We are going to hold these parties professionally and in the best way that we know how, and we are pretty optimistic that these parties could be a success."

Cafcass; Post-baby Peter hike in care cases continues

2009-09-11T22:59:00.000+01:00

http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/september/11/06.htm

Applications for first four months of 2009-10 almost 75% higher than first quarter of 2008-9
Cafcass has revealed that the increase in care order applications to the family courts in the wake of the baby Peter case shows no sign of slowing, with Julys total just below the record high of June.
The family courts body received 755 section 31 care and supervision order requests in July, 270 more than in the same month last year and only 19 fewer than June 2009s record of 774.
Julys figure brings the total for the first third of the 2009-10 financial year to 2,826, almost 75% higher than the same period last year, and averages out at 707 per month, compared with 408 over the same time last year.
As well as increasing cost pressures on Cafcass, the rise in applications is hitting local authorities, who have been responsible for paying court fees of up to Pfund4,825 per case since May 2008, up from Pfund150.
Cafcass family court advisers ensure the rights of children are represented in care cases.
Care summit planned
Cafcass, the Local Government Association and the Association of Directors of Childrens Services plan a joint summit later in the year to discuss the trends in care applications and the impact on children and families.

PM Brown declared 'too ill to run UK'

2009-09-11T22:58:00.000+01:00

http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/september/11/05.htm

"The Prime Minister of Great Britain is a man too ill to be holding the Office." This was the conclusion last week of a senior civil servant liaising regularly with Gordon Brown. For reasons which will become clear, the person involved will not go public with the evidence for this conclusion. The same applies to a high-ranking Treasury official who told us "In both a physical and mental sense, the Prime Minister is a very sick man, seriously disabled." Three years ago, an Opposition MP told nby "He is on extremely heavy doses of cutting-edge anti-depressants, but so far they have made little difference". And during the last fortnight, another high-ranking government source claimed "He is now on pills which restrict the foods he can eat and what he can drink. He is losing the sight of his good eye quite rapidly. It's a mess, and nobody knows what to do".
Rumours have circulated about Gordon Brown's health for a number of years. As long ago as 2004, Simon Heffer wrote in the Spectator that he displayed many signs of Asperger's syndrome: humourlessness, lack of irony and obsessional behaviour patterns. Nby itself ran a long piece in February 2007, predicting fairly accurately how Brown's rigid responses to given situations would prove to be inappropriate, and his behaviour in the end dysfunctional. We noted at the time 'If the Labour Party can organise seventy-three signatories to a document of intent named 'Anyone but Gordon', then there must be something about the man which might make him unfit to be Prime Minister'. In fact, we had already been advised by then that the PM had been on large doses of SSRI anti-depressants - the class of drugs derived from Prozac.
The overall story is well known in lobbyist circles. A senior member of this group told us that "Brown is in a very dark place. Sarah [hiswife, Mrs Brown] has begged him on several occasions to seek help, but he resists most offers of advice." Yet another popular journalist said "I'm afraid all the stories about him throwing things around and screaming at secretaries are entirely true. He behaves impeccably in public and can really turn on the charm when he needs to in private - but inside the bunker he behaves appallingly. He's also binging on junk food late at night - you can see he's gaining weight".

We Live In A Nazi World Ruled By Nazi Leaders, We Have To Stop This Genocide.

2009-09-11T22:57:00.000+01:00

http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/september/11/04.htm

We are all aware of the Nazi eugenics programs. What we arent aware of are the chilling comparisons between the Nazi Lebensborn program and contemporary American Child Protective Services (CPS) programs. Simplistically, it can be described as follows: In the U.S. parens patriae is the legal principle used to justify state sanctioned kidnapping of children from their families in order to protect them. In Nazi Germany, the Lebensborn program was legally used to justify the kidnapping of Aryan looking children from occupied territories to be Germanized; to be raised as good Germans (younger children) or designated as breeders for the German race to produce 2 3 racially pure children then be killed (older children). But, in reality, the comparison is more complicated and more horrifying than that. PARENS PATRIAE is a legal term in American law that is defined as The right of the government to take care of minors and others who cannot legally take care of themselves.
In a Nazi booklet published by SS Gruppenfuehrer Rediess, The SS for Greater Germany with Sword and Cradle, speaking about the recently Nazi occupied country of Denmark as it related to the Lebensborn program, the German position is stated as, This people is a Germanic people, and hence it is our duty to educate its children and young people and to make the Norwegians a Nordic people again as we understand the term.
The similarity between these two principles is that a government has assumed a certain authority, either by law or by fiat, over the population. This authority can be as extensive or limited as the government chooses and as the population will endure. In both stated instances, the governments assumed authority over children.
Pseudo-Sciences
The majority of reasonably intelligent people today recognize that Nazi attempts to designate one race as superior to others based on physical racial characteristics was nothing more than superstitious bigotry unsupported by science.
The Nazis actually created a science of racial studies, endorsed by experts and supported with manufactured scientific evidence, in order to support their pet theory that the so-called Aryan race was superior to all others.
They had panels of experts, advisory councils, college courses, and specially trained bureaucrats to develop and implement their racial hygiene policies.
This cadre of experts would devise, implement, oversee, evaluate and propagandize the various racial hygiene programs, including Lebensborn. Nazi society abounded with popular literature, textbooks, and manuals touting this most important Nazi platform. Nazi Germany was inundated with racially based propaganda which extolled the virtues of the Aryan and justified the solutions imposed on inferior races.
Of Pure Blood by Marc Hillel and Clarissa Henry is a 1976 book detailing the Nazi Lebensborn program.

Torture case raises questions over social services

2009-09-11T22:56:00.000+01:00

http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/september/11/03.htm

The two brothers involved in the Edlington torture case were well known to social services, the police and the education service, raising questions over whether the tragedy could have been prevented.
At the time of the attack, one was subject to a supervision order after he was convicted of battery and the other was on bail charged with actual bodily harm and burglary.
And in the days before the main attack, the brothers attacked two other youngsters in Edlington.
Children's services in the South Yorkshire town have been under tremendous public scrutiny following the deaths of a number of children known to social workers.
The fact the two boys were known to the department will only increase the pressure on the council. Questions will also be asked about whether more should have been done after they attacked two other young boys in the days leading up to the main incident.
Few details have been released about social services' involvement with the two young defendants and their family. Court hearings have been told both boys were on the child protection register and both had been expelled from school. At the time of the attack, both boys had been placed in foster care in the Edlington area. They had only been there since March 10 about three weeks before the attack.

'More babies should be taken into care to protect them from poor parents'

2009-09-11T22:55:00.000+01:00

http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/september/11/02.htm

More new-born children need to be taken into care to stop them being damaged beyond repair by poor parents, according to Martin Narey, chief executive of the children's charity Barnardo's
Mr Narey called for less focus on ''fixing families that can't be fixed'' and for social workers to be more pro-active about removing children at risk.
His comments come in the wake of last week's court case involving two young brothers from Doncaster who viciously attacked an 11-year-old boy and his nine-year-old nephew. The siblings were under the care of social services at the time.
Mr Narey told The Observer: ''We can't keep trying to fix families that are completely broken. It sounds terrible, but I think we try too hard with birth parents.
''I have seen children sent back to homes that I certainly wouldn't have sent them back to. I have been extremely surprised at decisions taken.

'Uppity' parents who challenge the authorities 'risk having children taken away'

2009-09-11T22:54:00.000+01:00

http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/september/11/01.htm

"Uppity" parents who challenge doctors or councils over their children's upbringing are increasingly at risk of having them taken away, it has been claimed.
Local authorities are using proceedings in the family courts as "retaliation" against parents who question doctors' diagnoses of their children or challenge other decisions, according to an MP.
John Hemming, the Liberal Democrat MP for Birmingham Yardley, who coordinates a campaign called Justice for Families, which calls for reform of the family court system, said that the practice was becoming common.

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2009-07-04T10:54:00.004+01:00

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Celeb child case tests media access to family courts

2009-07-01T13:07:00.002+01:00

http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/june/30/02.htm

The media's new right to attend family court proceedings should only be overturned in the most exceptional circumstances, the President of the Family Division has been told.
When applications were being made to exclude the media from such hearings, the media also had a right to be properly informed of the application and the reasons behind it, said Gavin Millar QC, representing a group of media organisations.
His comments came at a hearing yesterday at which the media were opposing an application they should be excluded from hearings in a case involving a celebrity, a child and the child's mother.
The hearing was in private, although journalists were allowed to attend.
Richard Spearman QC, for the celebrity, had argued that as a general rule in cases involving celebrities and their children, the requirement to protect their privacy would require that journalists should be excluded from the hearings.
He also argued that protection of celebrities and children's privacy meant that when applications were made for journalists to be excluded from all or parts of hearings, the media should not be told the reasons on which such applications were based.
The case is the first in which the Family Division has had to consider the operation of the new system of openness in the family court and the rule allowing the exclusion of journalists from all or parts of hearings in certain circumstances.
It is believed that Sir Mark Potter, President of the Family Division, intends to use the case to set out guidance for the courts on the approach to be taken.
The new rules allowing the media into family proceedings hearings provide that journalists may be excluded from all or part of a hearing if this is necessary in the interests of any child concerned in or connected with the proceedings, or for the safety or protection of a party or witness or person connected with such a person, or for the orderly conduct of proceedings, or if justice would otherwise be impeded or prejudiced.

MP's fears at child risk register

2009-07-01T13:07:00.001+01:00

http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/june/30/01.htm

A Somerset MP has raised concerns about the safety of data held for the government's new child register scheme.
ContactPoint will retain records of all 11 million children in the UK. It aims to provide a database to be used by those working in child protection.
Weston-super-Mare MP John Penrose said he was worried that the data collected in the project could be lost.
However Wansdyke MP Dan Norris, a former social worker, said the data was vital to safeguard children.
The information contained by ContactPoint will be accessible to at least 390,000 people nationwide, including health visitors and social workers.
It aims to provide a single point of contact to help avoid tragedies such as the Victoria Climbie and Baby Peter cases.

Grandparents are left out of the family picture too often

2009-07-01T13:06:00.000+01:00

http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/june/27/03.htm

When parents separate, grandparents can find themselves cut off from grandchildren with no rights. The law should change
Stage lights sway beside the tall trees in Regents Park theatre on Saturday night, casting a golden glow on Beatrice and her reluctant wooer, Benedick. It was shivering cold, but our hearts were warm, first because of the play, but also because I was there in the company of my grandson. Much Ado had been a set text at school so he got the plot and understood the rude jokes as much as I did. The following morning we were off again, just the two of us, grandma and grandson, heading for the British Library and its exhibition of Henry VIII. Yes, my grandson is already in his teens and enjoys these one-to-one weekends almost as much as I do.
Jimmy and Margaret Deuchars in Glasgow had a fine time with their granddaughters at half-term, too. The two teenagers stayed over in their home and went on outings to Loch Lomond and such, just the sort of treats grandparents enjoy sharing. But in Jimmy and Margarets case it hasnt always been that easy.
The Deuchars lost their daughter to breast cancer only weeks after her second baby was born. Her husband soon married again and moved away to Liverpool. His new family took precedence in his life and the grandparents found contact hard. Their requests to keep in touch came to nothing. They realised that they had lost more than their daughter. But they werent willing to accept the situation, and went to court. The laws of this country do not acknowledge any legal relationship between grandparents and grandchildren. However, after a somewhat heated negotiation, the families came to an agreement. In the years that followed they would meet their granddaughters once a month at Carlisle Castle or the Tesco near by. It wasnt much of a family life, but it would have to do. However, they didnt stop there.
When I was first a grandparent, about 17 years ago, grandparents didnt have much of a profile. They were simply bundled in with the general family background and not expected to have much of a role. All that has changed, and people such as Miriam Stoppard are writing delicious books about the joys and rewards, but also about the skills and pitfalls of what I suppose must be called grand parenting. Being a grandparent, it seems to me, can be gloriously free of rule books and restrictions. There is only one qualification parentage and after that you make it up as you go along.

Closing the gap on shortage of social workers in West Sussex

2009-07-01T13:04:00.000+01:00

http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/june/27/02.htm

West Sussex County Council is starting to 'close the gap' on a shortage of social workers in children's services, members were told.
Cllr James Walsh asked how many of the vacancies required to be filled to meet the demands of the children's delivery programme had been filled since the council last met.
Leader Cllr Henry Smith said he did not have an exact figure to date, but he could say that Pfund500,000 of extra investment provided earlier this year had resulted in more children's social workers being recruited.
"We are starting to close the gap on the number of social worker vacancies for children's services, and for adults' services as well," he added.
This was a key priority for the county council, but it was very
difficult to get people to enter social care at the moment hardly
surprising given the extreme adverse publicity the profession had faced in the last year or so.
The situation was particularly challenging in West Sussex, which was competing with authorities in Greater London for staff.
"This is something we have an absolute commitment to resolve," he told the council.
Cllr Smith was questioned by Cllr Irene Richards about why a target set under a 'local area agreement' involving the county council, police, health service and other local authorities for reducing fatal and serious road accidents had not been met, and whether any additional measures were proposed to achieve this.

Partnership rights in place for gay couples by end of year

2009-07-01T13:03:00.000+01:00

http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/june/27/01.htm

THE CIVIL Partnership Bill giving statutory rights to gay and lesbian couples will be enacted and operational by the end of the year, the Government said yesterday.
The Bill was published yesterday by Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern.
It will allow same-sex couples to register their civil partnership and allow them to enjoy the same statutory protection as married couples across a wide range of areas. However, it stops short of allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry.
The rights and obligations include the protection of a shared home, pension rights, the right to succession and equality with married couples of treatment under the tax and social welfare codes.
According to the Gay and Lesbian Equality Network, thousands of couples in Ireland will be in a position to register their relationship from early next year.
The second major feature of the Bill is a new redress scheme for unmarried cohabiting opposite-sex couples, and for same-sex couples who have not registered.
The scheme will afford protection to a financially dependent person when a long-term relationship comes to an end. The cohabitation scheme covers a number of scenarios, including bereavement and the break-up of a relationship.
Green Party leader and Minister for the Environment John Gormley welcomed the Bill, calling it a major breakthrough for gay and lesbian couples in Irish society. He said it had involved many meetings with Mr Ahern and his officials, and had taken a lot of time because of its complex nature.I believe its the start of a process and today is a major step forward in terms of equality.
Mr Gormley said the party still favoured marriage rights for gay and lesbian people. He said any move in that direction was contingent on the outcome of the case that has been taken by Ann Louise Gilligan and Katherine Zappone to have their Canadian marriage recognised in Ireland.

Social services knew toddler was in danger - but failed to stop her being kicked to death by babysitter

2009-07-01T13:02:00.000+01:00

http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/june/26/02.htm

Social services are in the dock again after a toddler was left to die at the hands of a schoolboy babysitter despite repeated warnings that she was in grave danger.
Demi-Leigh Mahon, two, was punched, kicked and bitten by 15-year-old Karl McCluney, while her drug-addict mother was out collecting child benefit.
The little girl suffered at least 68 separate injuries.
As McCluney was convicted of murder the catalogue of failings by social services was finally revealed.
An independent report found that social workers should have taken action. They knew that Demi-Leigh was being raised in a drugs den.
Members of the public and neighbours had told children's services that the child was left crying a lot and that her mother, Ann-Marie McDonald, was injecting heroin and was unable to care for her.
Police had reports of domestic abuse.
Yet at no point did social services intervene, and Demi-Leigh was never placed on the 'at risk' register.
The case is the second in two years in which Salford social services - branded inadequate by Ofsted in 2007 - have been found to be at fault.
However, no one has been disciplined over the errors which enabled Demi-Leigh's mother to leave her daughter with McCluney, who had previously threatened to beat up a teacher and stab another man.
In March last year 31-year-old Miss McDonald - known as Sindy - was given a rehabilitation order after being convicted of supplying heroin and cocaine from her flat in Eccles, near Manchester. But she failed to comply and took Demi-Leigh to a friend's flat, resulting in a warrant for her arrest.
On July 15, she left her daughter with McCluney at his father's flat. It was his 15th birthday. When Demi-Leigh began crying he flew into a rage. He subjected the defenceless toddler to an appalling assault, punching her in the face, biting her and kicking her.
View summaries of the case reviews here.

Michael Jackson dies

2009-07-01T13:01:00.002+01:00

http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/june/26/01.htm

King of pop music, Michael Jackson has died. He was 50.
As news of his death came through, CNN interviewing legend Larry King said this world is a sad place tonight.
He dies at a time when he was planning one of the biggest comebacks in pop history and was lined-up for gigs in Britain.
Zimdiaspora joins the music fans around the world in mourning the passing of the greatest entertainer of our generation. We cannot imagine the impact his death will have from around the world, including Zimbabwe, Victorial Falls and Harare where he visited in the late 1990s.
Michael suffered a cardiac arrest earlier this afternoon at his Holmby Hill home and paramedics were unable to revive him. We're told when paramedics arrived Jackson had no pulse and they never got a pulse back.
Michael is survived by three children: Michael Joseph Jackson, Jr., Paris Michael Katherine Jackson and Prince "Blanket" Michael Jackson II.
In 2004, Jackson seriously considered a touring Zimbabwe, South Africa and Senegal to raise money to fight AIDS.
Jackson had 13 number one hits during his solo career.
Michael Jackson is referred to as King of Pop in the same manner that "The King of Rock and Roll" is given to rock legend Elvis Presley.
The title "King of Pop" was allegedly first coined by Elizabeth Taylor. The term has commonly been mistaken as being "self proclaimed" by Michael Jackson, though it was his fans that first gave him the title, which was later accepted by mainstream.
Critics have questioned whether Michael Jackson is still the King of Pop. His 1982 album Thriller is the best-selling all-original album of all time, with over 59 million records sold to date.
In February of 2005, Michael Jackson's Thriller music video was voted No.1 on the UK Channel 4's vote for the 100 Greatest Pop Videos of all time.
Michael Joseph Jackson (born August 29, 1958, in Gary, Indiana), is an African-American singer, dancer, screenwriter, songwriter, record producer and one of the recognizable names in the world. Jackson began his career as the lead singer of Motown act The Jackson 5 in the 1960s and 1970s. After beginning a full-fledged solo career in 1979, Jackson went on to become one of the most successful solo artists in music history .He is known as the King of the Music Video and the King of Pop, a nickname that Elizabeth Taylor gave him in 1989 during an awards ceremony.
He has, however, been dogged by media fascination with his alleged transracially changing physical appearance and what some perceive as an eccentric lifestyle, resulting in his being nicknamed Wacko Jacko. Jackson's skin color, which he attributes to vitiligo, is believed to have been bleached by some. Jackson uses makeup in his public appearances, and is protected from the sun by a parasol when he is outdoors. Jackson believes that the media's coverage of him is fueled by racism. Jackson and others claimed, that in 2002, he outsold Elvis Presley, the first white rock star. Comparisons with Elvis are difficult to verify due to the lack of reliable sales information.

Findings due in child death probes

2009-07-01T13:01:00.001+01:00

http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/june/25/14.htm

A local authority's child protection system is due to come under fresh scrutiny.
Doncaster Children Safeguarding Board is publishing the findings of the serious case reviews into the deaths of Amy Howson and Alfie Goddard, who were both known to the town's social services department.
The deaths placed the local authority under the national spotlight after it emerged that seven children had died while under the care of Doncaster Council's children's services department since 2004.
Sixteen-month-old Amy died in December 2007 after her spine was snapped in two. Her father, James Howson, 25, from Nelson Road, Doncaster, was found guilty of her murder and sentenced to a minimum of 22 years in prison.
The toddler was malnourished and dehydrated and had been punched and slapped on numerous occasions, suffering fractures to her arms, legs and ribs.
Alfie, from the Toll Bar area of Doncaster, was just three months old when he died at Sheffield Children's Hospital in May 2008.
A post-mortem examination showed he had suffered a fatal head injury two days earlier. His father, Craig Goddard, 24, squeezed, shook and then threw him to the floor after he lost his temper when he refused to stop crying. Goddard had been drinking and had smoked several cannabis joints.

Judge's concern over lack of family court reporting

2009-07-01T13:00:00.000+01:00

http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/june/25/13.htm

A judge has today spoken of her disappointment that few journalists are taking up the opportunity to report on family court proceedings.
The Ministry of Justice opened up the family courts to the media at the end of April as part of plans for greater openness in the justice system.
But Lynn Roberts, a judge at the Principal Registry of the Family Division in London, told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme that, after the initial interest, journalists were not attending day-to-day hearings.
And she said it was a shame that journalists only appeared to be interested in the more high-profile cases involving celebrities.
"There was a lot of enthusiasm on the first day - I had three journalists in my court on the first day - but I haven't seen anybody since," she told the programme this morning.
"I think it's going to be cases which are perceived to be of particular public interest rather than the run-of-the-mill cases, which I think in a way is a bit of shame because it would be helpful if the public got an idea of what's happening on a day-to-day basis rather than the spectacular celebrity cases."
Roberts added: "We have a very good system in my view and I'm quite proud of how we do things and I think it would be very good for more people to understand how we reach these very difficult decisions."
Times journalist Camilla Cavendish, who won British Press Awards campaign of the year for her battle to open up the family courts, said: "It is still extremely unclear what we can report on and what we can read.
"The Family court relies heavily on expert witness documents, which are not accessible to the press.

Gas death family's 'justice wait'

2009-07-01T12:59:00.000+01:00

http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/june/25/12.htm

The family of two children who died on a holiday in Corfu have reacted angrily after a manslaughter trial was delayed until February.
Christi Shepherd, seven, and her six-year-old brother Robert, of Horbury, West Yorkshire, died of carbon monoxide poisoning in October 2006.
Thomas Cook holiday reps Richard Carson, 27, and Nicola Gibson, 25, face charges of manslaughter and negligence.
The family said Thomas Cook's request for an adjournment was "disrespectful".
The trial was due to start on Thursday but was adjourned until 4 February after legal applications by the defendants.
Paul Wood, the children's stepfather, read a statement saying: "Unfortunately Thomas Cook led us to believe that they wouldn't request the case to be adjourned.
"They continue to play these games with the memory of our children Christi and Bobby and we find this extremely disrespectful.
"We flew from England at great personal cost because we have faith in the Greek justice system. Our pain for the loss of our children cannot be expressed in words.
"We wish for the legal process to come to an end soon, doing justice to our children's memories so we can then try to rebuild our lives."
The defendants are accused of causing manslaughter by negligence in relation to the children, and of causing bodily injury by negligence to Mr Shepherd and Ms Beatson, who recovered after being overcome by fumes.
Ten Greeks, including staff from the Louis Corcyra Beach Hotel in Gouvia, where the family were staying, were also due to be tried.
Mr Shepherd and Ms Beatson flew to Corfu for the trial, as did the children's mother Sharon Wood and her husband Paul.

Agencies failed to safeguard baby

2009-07-01T12:58:00.002+01:00

http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/june/25/11.htm

Opportunities to intervene before a 16-month-old girl was killed by her father "were missed" by social services and other agencies, an inquiry has found.
Amy Howson, from Doncaster, South Yorkshire, had her spine snapped by her father James in December 2007.
A serious case review found the town's children's services team failed to take proper action to safeguard the girl, who also was beaten several times.
It identified "three key missed opportunities" to intervene.
Howson, of Nelson Road, Doncaster, was jailed for life with a minimum term of 22 years after being convicted of Amy's murder.
Her mother Tina Hunt was given a 12-month sentence suspended for two years after admitting she allowed the death of a child and child cruelty.
The serious case review referred to Amy as Child B.
In its conclusion, it said: "The murder of Child B by her father... was not predictable given the information and knowledge held on him and other family members by agencies.
"However, there was sufficient information and knowledge on family members, including (the father), held by individual agencies to conclude that, on balance, both Child B and (another child) were at risk of significant harm from him.
"Some agencies within the Doncaster multi-agency child protection system failed to follow basic safeguarding procedures and did not take proper and effective action to safeguard and promote the welfare of Child B and (the other child)."
The review also concluded an "inter-agency working and communications were deficient".
It identified "three key missed opportunities for agencies to intervene with a proper assessment and subsequent child protection plan".

Social services failures resulted in 16-month-old girl's murder

2009-07-01T12:58:00.001+01:00

http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/june/25/10.htm

Doncaster agencies failed to follow basic procedures in case of Amy Howson, who died when her spine was snapped by her father, says inquiry report
A series of errors meant child protection agencies missed several opportunities to intervene to protect a 16-month-old girl physically abused and finally murdered by her violent father, a inquiry has found.
Social workers, schools and health visitors all failed to follow basic safeguarding procedures in the case of Amy Howson, from Doncaster, South Yorkshire, who died when her spine was broken by her father, the serious case review says. She had been punched and slapped on numerous occasions in the four weeks before her death, leaving her with fractures to her arms, legs and ribs.
A separate serious case review into the death from abuse of another Doncaster youngster, three-month-old Alfie Goddard, concluded that although there had been no prior evidence of abuse, safeguarding agencies failed to recognise important signs that he was at risk. Alfie died of head injuries after being violently shaken and thrown to the floor by his father.
Although much of the media focus on child protection in recent months has been on Haringey, the council in north London at the centre of the Baby P tragedy, Doncaster has been for some time a focus of concerns about child safeguarding. Seven children known to Doncaster's social services have died as a result of abuse or neglect since 2004.
An Ofsted inspection last year branded children's services in the town "inadequate"and the decision by the children's secretary, Ed Balls, to send in outside experts to overhaul the services helped trigger the departure of former mayor, Martin Winter, who announced in March that he would not be standing for re-election.
The review into the circumstances leading up to Amy's death in December 2007 found social workers and schools critically failed to act on two occasions when presented with evidence of aggressive behaviour by her father, James Howson.

Child protection: cash 'not the reason for failures'

2009-07-01T12:57:00.000+01:00

http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/june/25/09.htm

The leader of Dundee City Council today said he agreed with the Scottish Government that a lack of central funding was not responsible for the failures in the citys child protection services (writes David Clegg).
It had appeared Councillor Ken Guild was at odds with his SNP colleagues in Holyrood yesterday when he confirmed the council had set aside an extra Pfund500,000 to help fund improvements.
That was despite the Scottish Government claiming improving childrens services in the city was not about spending more a view echoed by Dundees two SNP MSPs, Shona Robison and Joe FitzPatrick.
But speaking to the Tele today, Mr Guild said he agreed that money was not the solution to the problem and that the Pfund500,000 had only been put aside in the event it was needed.
I would absolutely agree (with the government), he said.
We are looking at ways of improving how the system works. What we have said now is that if we need to spend money rapidly it will be there. But the solution is not to throw money at it we need to ensure the existing service is mobilised so it works properly.
But I know there has been considerable pressure from the opposition politicians to throw money at it. If we do find we need to spend money to improve the service it will be there on standby.
The money has been set aside as part of an improvement plan for child protection in light of this weeks damning report into child protection services in the city.
Inspectors found major deficiencies and said they were not confident children at risk were not being identified or receiving the protection they needed.
The report sparked calls from Labour and Tories for a review of Scotlands child protection services and an increase in funding.
Rory Malone, Dundee branch secretary of the union Unison, also claimed a lack of government funding was behind the poor performance.

Let's get rid of social work's blame culture

2009-07-01T12:56:00.000+01:00

http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/june/25/08.htm

Social workers should be able to complain without being sacked, and be allowed make practice mistakes in a supportive learning environment, says Liz Davies
I recently visited Maria Ward and Gillie Christou the social worker and team manager, respectively, for Baby Peter. It was how I imagine it might be visiting someone under house arrest. Shutters drawn, secret venues, sneaking out at night when no one would recognise them, and jumping at every sound. I've also spoken to Lisa Arthurworrey this week, social worker for Victoria Climbie.
Nearly 10 years on from Victoria's death and having presented evidence at the criminal trial of the murderers, the serious case review, the Haringey disciplinary hearings, employment tribunals and appeal, the appeal against the General Social Care Council (GSCC) for refusing her social worker registration, and the appeal to the Care Standards Tribunal against her name being placed on the Protection of Children Act list, Lisa is also mainly confined to her house. She is also 10 years older and still awaits GSCC registration three years after a judge said she was fit for practice "as of today".
This is a very depressing picture to paint for my social work students who fear that when they make a mistake, which is inevitable in a profession that works with the complexity of human beings, they may also be subject to such relentless punishment.
Maria and Gillie have just begun these legal processes with three sets of investigations ongoing. They have already given evidence at two serious case reviews, the criminal trial, and the GSCC and Haringey disciplinary hearings. Thanks to a recent House of Lords ruling, no social worker can be placed on the Protection of Children Act list without a hearing. It is also to be hoped that the legal decision in Lisa's case about the use of the list for professional mistakes as "an unusual occurrence, to be used only in the most clear cut of cases" will bode well for them in this respect.
Nevres Kemal, social worker and whistleblower, was sacked by Haringey council but fought it at employment tribunal and won an out of court settlement. She remains out of work, despite still being registered. Who wants to employ a whistleblower? These are four ex-Haringey social workers who have no salaries and no professional employment, and three who fear public recrimination every moment of every day.
What can be done to end this misery? None of these social workers acted maliciously in any way. They all worked very hard, often late into the night, struggled with massive caseloads, lack of quality supervision and essential child protection training and practiced in the midst of service uncertainty and restructuring. All of them had previous spotless employment records; in fact Maria was made into a permanent worker after Baby Peter's death. Having supported Lisa through her various hearings I wonder where Maria and Gillie will have got to in nine years time. There has to be another way.

Today's tragic victim, tomorrow's feral brat

2009-07-01T12:55:00.000+01:00

http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/june/25/07.htm

Frankly, it's distressing how illogical we are about cruelty to children. Remember the national spasm of grief when we saw that smudgy picture of Baby P: the blond curls, the wistful expression? We grieved like sentimental saps, gripped by the thought of the poor soul dying in agony, unloved and abused. And we hugged our own children tighter, congratulating ourselves that they would never experience anything like Peter's brief, terrible existence. I did it; every mother did it. It was a kind of surreptitious mother porn.
And then we promptly switched off our brains to wait for the next harrowing death. Where was the outcry when we read of the thousands of children, some only 18 months older than Peter, who are excluded from primary school for bad behaviour? Nowhere to be seen.
Where was the special response to the evidence of biting, swearing, kicking and inappropriate sexual behaviour among infants - other than the usual litany of moans: it's dreadful, isn't it? An indictment of society. It has to be dealt with, punished. Those children must learn respect and the difference between right and wrong before they come to school. The parents must be told. And other children certainly shouldn't have their education disrupted by that kind of thing.
If we were rational, of course, we would be moved to a different kind of outrage. But we aren't. It is a plain fact that, while we emote for the Baby Peters and Brandon Muirs of this world - those who die in terrible circumstances at the hands of their parents - we are remarkably less sympathetic to the Peters and Brandons who survive long enough to get to school and to manifest the results of their terrible start in life. Somewhere, without any change in circumstances, pity has turned to antipathy; everyone's tragic victim has become tomorrow's feral brat.
According to research by The Times, revealed before this week's Ofsted report, the number of children temporarily excluded from primary school rose by 14 per cent in the past year to 27,000. Of those 12,000 were under the age of 8.
But the really damning statistic for me is that more than 1,200 of the fixed-term exclusions from schools in England and Wales in 2007 involved children aged 4 and under. Dwell on that, mothers. Think about an average child of 4, its considerable needs, its curiosity, its innocence, its desire to laugh, its trust in adults.
Then understand that there are some infants of that age already so profoundly damaged by an absence of love and attention that many of their chances of participating fully in the world have probably already been taken away. Children who, according to Ofsted, don't understand that adults are in charge or that no means no. Who have witnessed nothing but aggression at home, who see smack cooked up more often than sausages. That's not me being emotional - that's a fact.

Expulsion is not the answer

2009-07-01T12:54:00.000+01:00

http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/june/25/06.htm

Children displaying sexualised behaviour need better support, not a fast track to bored and angry unemployment
Ofsted inspectors investigating an increase in exclusions from primary schools have discovered "worrying" levels of sexual behaviour among very young children.
It would be easy to tip into yet another moral panic, with the tabloid headlines writing themselves. The figures, however, show that the numbers are small, though they are on the increase.
What also causes concern is that the solutions applied in some schools expulsion and/or the immediate involvement of social services may do still more harm to both the infant victimisers and those who are the recipients of inappropriate sexual behaviour. "Sexualised behaviour" covers a wide range of invasive behaviour not all of which signals the child is her/himself being sexually abused although possibly equally as damaging, they might be witnessing adult sexual behaviour.
In the middle ages, there was no childhood; infants were deemed miniature adults and there were few sexual boundaries. Now, in some families, short of intelligence and life skills, the same attitudes apply. Yet, arguably, while some of those parents may be incapable of giving love and protection, others can and will change, given the right kind of support. If this kind of parenting support, mentoring from parents from a similar background and intensive help in schools, sounds like the nanny state, that's still infinitely preferable to children being placed in care or poor fostering arrangements that only add to the damage.
Better and more imaginative support for families; greater investment in schools with a high proportion of challenging pupils; expulsion only used in extremis (while properly protecting children on the receiving end of physical and sexual assault) and a sense of perspective is required.
According to Ofsted's chief inspector, Christine Gilbert, exclusion of children under seven is still very rare.
The latest figures for 2006-07 show there were 13,460 fixed-term exclusions (suspensions) and 260 permanent exclusions with boys 10 times more likely to be excluded. Eight of the 69 schools visited by Ofsted inspectors had suspended children for behaviour that was perceived to have an inappropriate sexual element. Most schools had instigated child protection proceedings or contacted social workers.

Search continues for missing 2-year-old Indiana girl, Jada Justice

2009-07-01T12:53:00.002+01:00

http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/june/25/05.htm

As the family of Haylee Donathan rejoice at her safe return home, the family of Jada Justice are desperate to find their little girl, who disappeared almost two weeks ago.
Jada Justice, 2, went missing on June 16 at about 9:40 p.m., when her 18-year-old babysitter said she left Jada in the back seat of the car while she went into a gas station convenience store to buy cigarettes and milk.
According to Jadas mother, Melissa Swiontek, police are working around the clock to find Jada.
Swiontek told Nancy Grace that she asked the babysitter, Engelica Castillo why she left the car unlocked and parked on the side of the gas station instead of the front. she just keeps telling me I dont know, I dont know. I was just running in real quick.
She said she spoke to a gas station attendant who saw Castillo. He told Swiontek that Castillos demeanor was normal until she returned appearing to be hysterical.
Swiontek and Jadas father, who has regular visitation with the toddler, have both taken polygraph tests, however, as of Tuesday, Castillo had not taken one.

Children's services staff praised

2009-07-01T12:53:00.001+01:00

http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/june/25/04.htm

Council employees in Bridgend have been praised for "sustained and substantial improvement" in children's services.
It has led to the lifting of a "serious concern" protocol after a review by the Care and Social Services Inspectorate Wales (CSSIW).
Inspectors said Bridgend County Borough Council now responded "much more promptly and effectively" to initial concerns about children.
Council leader Mel Nott called it "excellent news".
"As a cabinet we have been determined to see a sustained and substantial improvement in this area, and I have been very closely involved in monitoring progress," he said.
"I know how dedicated staff within the children's directorate have been to making this happen."
The council said the review of children's services by CSSIW found that social services staff and managers had "have continued to work hard to secure further improvements and have established more robust systems for consistent assessment of risk and effective decision making".
The authority said staff were "supported by strong corporate leadership for children's services and performance management arrangements have been established".
Reviewing progress
CSSIW chief inspector Rob Pickford said the council was also much more reliable in planning for children's welfare and reviewing progress.
He added: "The relationship between the inspectorate and the authority can now revert to one of normal business, with the Inspectorate checking progress through our normal programme of inspection and reviews."

Children's services failed in Doncaster child deaths

2009-07-01T12:52:00.000+01:00

http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/june/25/03.htm

Children's organisations across health, education and social services have been criticised in the serious case reviews into the deaths of two children in Doncaster. The first review, into the death of a 16-month-old girl known as Child B, who was killed by her father in 2007, found that children's agencies missed three key opportunities to intervene. They also failed to follow basic safeguarding procedures. Doncaster Primary Care Trust's health visiting team and Doncaster Council's community and schools social work service came in for particular criticism for failing to safeguard Child B as well as her brother, known in the report...

Four-year-olds excluded over violence

2009-07-01T12:51:00.000+01:00

http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/june/25/02.htm

Children as young as four are being excluded from school for displaying violent and inappropriate sexual behaviour, according to an Ofsted report published today. Children were excluded for offences including biting other students and attacking school staff. Fourteen of the schools visited by Ofsted reported problems with pupils' sexualised behaviour. Teachers told Ofsted that the young children who were excluded had all experienced varying degrees of trauma. Many had experienced family breakdown or domestic violence. In one case a child who saw his mother killed in a refugee camp before moving to England was excluded for bad behaviour. The watchdog...

Woman 'social worker' approached child in Abingdon

2009-07-01T12:50:00.002+01:00

http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/june/25/01.htm

Police today issued a warning about a woman posing as a social worker who approached a two-year-old child in Abingdon.
At about 1.40pm yesterday, a woman was looking after a two-year-old girl in the communal garden area in Stratton Way when another woman went up to the girl.
The woman claiming to be from social services asked questions about the girl. She then went back over to a man who was waiting on the pavement and they walked away.
The woman is white, aged between 35 and 40 and of medium build. She was wearing a floral top and white trousers and had brown hair with red streaks in it.
Det Con Jon Shaw said: Although no offences were committed, this incident has understandably concerned the parents of the little girl.

Brandon Muir death: Social work department blasted over failings

2009-07-01T12:50:00.001+01:00

http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/june/24/24.htm

WATCHDOGS yesterday savaged the social work department that failed to save tragic Brandon Muir.
But the head of child protection in Dundee at the time of the toddler's brutal killing wasn't around to hear the damning verdict.
Fred McBride was enjoying a sunshine holiday before moving to a new top post - on a salary of Pfund107,000 a year.
After the boyfriend of Brandon's junkie mum battered the little boy to death, McBride claimed there was no "systemic failure" in the way the authorities handled the case.
But yesterday's official report reveals that child protection in Dundee was a shambles.
The watchdogs found that:
Kids at risk of abuse or neglect were not spotted or helped in time
Risks facing children were not assessed quickly enough
Bosses failed to give social workers a clear idea of how to do their jobs
Bad parents were often allowed to carry on severely neglecting their children.
The report is the latest in a long line of calls for improvements to child protection in Scotland. But despite repeated promises to improve the system, children continue to die.
Government inspectors looked at 18 key performance areas in Dundee and ruled that NINE were weak or unsatisfactory.
They were: operational planning; policies and procedures; vision, values and aims; leadership and direction; leadership of change; meeting children's needs; spotting and assessing risks; effectiveness of planning and responding to concerns.

Earl Spencer fails to win blanket press ban in divorce proceedings

2009-07-01T12:49:00.000+01:00

http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/june/24/23.htm

Earl Spencer and his former wife, Caroline, were united yesterday in an attempt to oust the media from their battle for a divorce settlement at the High Court.
In the first high-profile test of reforms that allowed reporters into family courts, including divorce hearings, Lord Spencer and his former wife wanted a blanket ban on any publicity.
But the High Court judge hearing the case, Mr Justice Munby, rejected their request and instead asked the parties to put forward a request for restrictions on the coverage of the hearing, expected to last all week.
Nicholas Mostyn, QC, representing Lord Spencer, brother of the late Diana, Princess of Wales, said that the reason why the media were allowed in to the once-private Family Division hearings was because of lobbying to open up secret proceedings involving battles over children.
He said it was not the object of the reforms to allow the press to report anything of news interest, particularly battles over how assets are split after a divorce. These parties have a reasonable expectation of privacy.
Thousands of family court hearings that previously would have taken place in private were opened to the media in April after pressure from fathers groups, campaigners and the media, including The Times.
Mr Mostyn said that the parties expectation of privacy should override the limited freedom of expression allowed under the European Convention on Human Rights.
There is nothing interesting about this case apart from the fact that it is Earl and Countess Spencer. If this were two anonymous people there would be no press in here at all. It would be fundamentally boring. We are going to be looking at housing and budget. In these circumstances there is no overreaching freedom of expression consideration and privacy must prevail.

Earl Spencer and former wife settle divorce out of court to avoid glare of publicity

2009-07-01T12:48:00.000+01:00

http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/june/24/22.htm

Earl Spencer and his former wife Caroline have opted to settle their bitterly contested divorce out of court to avoid details of their lives being revealed in the press.
The pair and their lawyers made the decision overnight after a High Court judge told them that if they wanted him to help divide up their assets, he would do so in public.
It came after parliament passed new legislation which instructed that all family court hearings should be open to public scrutiny in the same way as criminal proceedings.
The judge was told that as well as the details of the couple's wealth, assets, financial commitments and lifestyles, the court would hear "allegations of conduct on both sides which it may be necessary to explore in evidence".
The 41-year-old Countess was granted a decree nisi of her six-year marriage to 44-year-old Lord Spencer in March 2007 on the grounds of his "unreasonable behaviour".
Lord Spencer, who was previously married to Victoria Lockwood, left Caroline, their four month-old daughter and two year-old son nearly three years ago and shortly afterwards is alleged to have begun a relationship with a US television reporter.
The pair have not yet had a decree absolute because of wrangling over the division of their assets, including the former family home overlooking the Regent's Canal in Little Venice, West London, which Lord Spencer bought from Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour.
On Tuesday, Earl Spencer and the Countess attended London's High Court court to hear their lawyers ask Mr Justice Munby for a blanket ban on media coverage of the case, despite the change in law opening up the family courts.
Mr Justice Munby declined, saying such a ban would suggest there was one law for celebrities and "another law for those who live their lives in tranquillity and anonymity" when really theirs was simply another "big money case".

Partnership Committee responds to city child protection report

2009-07-01T12:47:00.000+01:00

http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/june/24/21.htm

The committee responsible for coordinating the protection of children and young people in the North-east of Scotland has responded to the findings of a follow-up report on provision in Aberdeen city.
HM Inspectorate of Education (HMIe), which carried out an inspection during April this year, published its report on Wednesday, June 24.
Inspectors examined how the agencies work individually and together to protect children and assessed progress made on points identified for action in the initial report published last November.
The agencies tasked with child protection in Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire and Moray, are members of the North East Scotland Child Protection Committee (NESCPC).
NESCPC chairman Chief Constable Colin McKerracher welcomed the report on behalf of the committee.
Chief Constable Colin McKerracher said: "I am pleased this report recognises all the good work and improvements made in Aberdeen.
"Agencies and their staff have worked closely together and this helps us all to strengthen services for children across the city.
"We must now continue driving forward improvements to ensure children across the city and the North-east of Scotland provide the best possible outcomes."
Aberdeen City Council Chief Executive Sue Bruce said: "It is very encouraging to see the progress made to date.
"The report recognises the progress made in the areas identified for action. This is a very good start on our long-term programme to improve services for vulnerable children.
"Staff at all levels have worked very hard to implement the changes made to date and I am confident that their continued commitment will bring about further improvements to these vital services."
Aberdeen City Council Social Care and Wellbeing Programme Director Philip Cotterill added: "Significant advances have been made since the initial inspection last November.

Analysis: Sexual abuse case - Is it time to ban cameras?

2009-07-01T12:46:00.002+01:00

http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/june/24/20.htm

Both the public and the nursery sector have been shocked at the Plymouth child sex abuse revelations. What can childcarers do now to reassure parents? Mary Evans hears their views.
Leading early years practitioners and experts are calling on the sector to respond with common sense and sensitivity following the allegations of child sexual abuse made against a nursery worker in Plymouth. Vanessa George, aged 39, who worked at Little Ted's nursery in the city, has been charged with making and distributing indecent images of children and with sexually assaulting children. Childcare professionals, while expressing their shock at the case,...

Worker 'lie' costs council £750K

2009-07-01T12:46:00.001+01:00

http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/june/24/19.htm

A council faces a huge legal bill after a social worker concealed her criminal past and allegedly lied in court.
Lynda Barnes, 56, worked for the council for four years despite having been convicted of conspiracy to murder.
After Mrs Barnes, of Nailsea, allegedly lied under oath in a family court case an inquiry revealed her background.
Now the family court judge has ordered Bath and North East Somerset Council to pay an estimated Pfund750,000 towards the cost of that case.
In 1995, Mrs Barnes - then employed by Avon County Council - pleaded guilty to asking someone to hire a hitman to kill her husband.
She received a two-year suspended sentence and was dismissed by the council.
However, Bath and North East Somerset (Banes) took her on in 2005 as a child protection manager.
Costs
Last year, Mrs Barnes is alleged to have lied under oath in a child protection case and asked another social worker to lie in court as well.
The judge in the case, Judge Paul Barclay, was appalled and carried out his own inquiries into Mrs Barnes' past.
He published his report into the case last week after Mrs Barnes failed in an application to the Court of Appeal to have her identity withheld.
Judge Barclay has now ordered Banes to pay half the court costs of the complicated and multi-party family court proceedings.

Dead Newport four-year-old was on child protection register

2009-07-01T12:45:00.000+01:00

http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/june/24/18.htm

Despite looking after their five-year-old grandson and four-year-old granddaughter for three years, social workers decided they were "too old" and unsuitable to continue.
And, tragically, the children now think that their grandparents are dead.
"Social workers made up their minds that we were too old," says the grandad, who is 59. His wife is just 46 and both look much younger.
"It just breaks my heart and eats away at me every day. My own grandchildren have been wrenched away and now they think that me and their granny are dead."
The children went to live with their grandparents because their mother, a heroin addict, couldn't look after them. The boy's father is dead and the girl's father has not had any contact with her.
But social workers later insisted the children would be better off with the two gay men. "My wife and I were happy bringing the children up ourselves," says the grandfather.
"We are their family. Now we've been told we'll never see them again. How can that possibly be right? They are our flesh and blood."
The children have now been given new identities and totally removed from their former life, family and friends.
The only contact their grandparents have had with the children in the last eight months is a two-paragraph letter from their new parents giving a few scraps of news about the pair.
The case provoked a storm of criticism in February when the adoption was first revealed.
The grandparents and children cannot be identified for legal reasons so we are calling the boy Adam and his sister Katie. We are calling their grandparents Brian and Margaret.

Social services rapped over response to sexualised behaviour

2009-07-01T12:44:00.000+01:00

http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/june/24/17.htm

Ofsted cites lack of response to referrals from schools from some social workers
An Ofsted report into school exclusions of pupils aged four to seven has uncovered a worrying lack of response by some social workers after children were referred to them over concerns about their sexualised behaviour.
Ofsted called on the government to take urgent action to ensure that all child protection services responded appropriately to young children who displayed inappropriate sexual behaviour at school.
Of the 69 schools examined in the report, eight said that they had excluded children for sexually inappropriate behaviour, with the majority also instigating child protection procedures. A further six schools referred cases directly to social services without excluding the child.
Lack of social services response
However, two schools reported a lack of response from services to seemingly serious incidents.
One headteacher of an infant school was told by a local authority specialist support agency that a child was too young for a referral and he might grow out of it. Ofsted discovered that the same child had subsequently moved to a junior school where he was again referred for the same types of behaviour.
Ofsted urged the Department for Children, Schools and Families to issue guidance for schools on identifying and responding to childrens sexually inappropriate behaviour and said that teachers should consider the reason for such behaviour as part of their child protection training.

Disgraced child worker costs council £750k

2009-07-01T12:43:00.000+01:00

http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/june/24/16.htm

A council will have to foot a Pfund750,000 legal bill for a court case in which a disgraced social worker lied, leading to her criminal past being exposed.
Bath and North East Somerset Council employed Lynda Barnes, who had a conviction for conspiring to murder her ex-husband.
Mrs Barnes, 55, from Nailsea, North Somerset, was employed by Banes in 2005 despite the fact that she had been sacked by its predecessor, Avon County Council, ten years earlier following her conviction.
She was given a two-year suspended jail sentence at Bristol Crown Court on March 24 1995 after pleading guilty to conspiracy to murder her ex-husband after asking someone to hire a hit man for Pfund10,000.
Mrs Barnes worked as a social work team manager for Banes for more than three years on child protection cases.
The matter came to light during a child protection case being heard in a family court where she is alleged to have lied on oath and asked another social worker to lie to the court.
The judge in the case, Judge Paul Barclay, was appalled and carried out his own inquiries into Mrs Barnes' past.
He published his ruling in the case last week after Mrs Barnes failed in a Court of Appeal application to prevent her being identified.
Judge Barclay has now ordered the council chiefs who hired her to pay half the legal aid costs of the families involved in the case.
They are expected to exceed Pfund500,000, which will be on top of the council's own legal fees, which could be around Pfund250,000.
Today the council reassured taxpayers that services would not be directly affected by the case.
A spokesman said they had planned for the possibility of a hefty legal bill in their budget and would take the case from their 'risk reserves' pot.

Aunt wants social work chief to quit

2009-07-01T12:42:00.000+01:00

http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/june/24/15.htm

The aunt of Brandon Muir today said she believed the tragic toddler would still be alive if Dundees child protection services had been working properly (writes David Clegg).
She also called for the citys head of social work to resign.
Dayna Garty was speaking in the wake of a report from Her Majestys Inspectorate of Education yesterday, which found major deficiencies in the citys Children and Young Persons Protection Committee.
She said her brother John Muir Brandons father had been left in shock over the disturbing findings of the inspection and demanded the resignations of senior social work figures.
It is very disturbing, she told the Tele.
I think it is actually worse than I first thought. It is unbelievable that so many aspects of the service came out as unsatisfactory.
I think there would be a really good chance that if the department was able to do its job properly that Brandon would be alive today.
They said they had grave concerns for him, but nothing was done.
Brandon was killed by Robert Cunningham the boyfriend of Brandons mother, Heather Boyd at the flat they shared in Douglas on March 16 last year.
It has since emerged that the neglected child may have been days from safety as social workers confirmed a case conference was due to take place that could have seen him removed from the care of his mother.
Following Cunninghams conviction for culpable homicide earlier this year the findings of the HMIE report which was already in the process of being compiled were brought forward.

Inspection pressure 'hits social work'

2009-07-01T12:41:00.000+01:00

http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/june/24/14.htm

The increasing pressure of inspections risks hampering councils ability to recruit and retain more social workers, a director of childrens services has warned.
Helen Denton, Lancashire CCs director of childrens services, said she believed that Ofsteds new inspection framework for child safeguarding - which includes unannounced visits, council performance indicators, and other statutory obligations - were pressure that could not be ignored.
Ms Denton told a New Local Government Network safeguarding conference that a culture of fear was being created, and that innovation to help and support front-line staff was vital.
There are eight different ways in which frontline social workers may be able to be subjected to inspection and challenge thats an enormous amount of stress, she said.
Im seriously worried that were going to impose such constraints on team members and social workers that eventually there will be no-one there to inspect.
Ms Denton told LGC she would not be surprised if the increased pressures social workers had been operating under in recent months had resulted in increased levels of work-related illness among frontline staff.
She said that in addition to the increased burden of inspection, social workers were also dealing with rising referrals of potential cases with varying degrees of merit but all of which had to be investigated.
Ms Denton said she hoped the Childrens Workforce Development Council was factoring those pressures into its guidance on workloads that is due later this year.
Helga Pile, social services national officer at Unison, said it was clear that there was a lot of anxiety about unannounced inspections, and fundamental questions about what performance indicators and inspections were really for.

Judges still have wide powers to restrict reporting and media access

2009-07-01T12:40:00.000+01:00

http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/june/24/13.htm

Family courts were opened to the press at the end of April but as yet there has been remarkably little reporting of them. Sanchia Berg spent a fortnight in different family courts to find out why.
The judge was happy for me to sit in his courtroom, the duty clerk informed me, so I walked in and found a seat in the corner.
This was my first day at the Principal Registry in Holborn - London's equivalent of the county court family division.
These courtrooms are quite informal, rather like seminar rooms, except for the little raised area where the judge and clerk sit.
The judge asked me to introduce myself. I explained that I simply wanted to observe the processes of the family courts, and report what I could, anonymised of course.
The judge seemed quite pleased - but the barristers looked uncomfortable.
One became quite agitated. He explained he represented the children's mother - and he needed to check what she thought about it. He went out to find her.
As we waited, we heard muffled screams coming from the corridor outside - and the sound of someone running. After a short while, the barrister came back.
"I think you all heard my client's reaction," he said. The mother had violently objected to me being there. In fact, she said she would not be present if I was.
The judge invited the barristers to give their view. They said they did not know if the case could go forward if the mother was not there - that it would not be in the best interests of the children involved.
The judge didn't ask me to leave, however I decided to go - I didn't want my presence to affect the case.
It was a reminder of how intensely personal these cases are.
As they assess whether a parent is the best carer for their child, experts will talk about parents' mental ability, their IQ, their personality, their ability to learn.
They talk about their state of mind, the condition of their home, and the nature of their relationships. Even though any reporting has to be anonymous - the reporter's still there listening.
'Lose-lose situation'
Yet that was the only case I had to leave.
I did hear part of several cases, but then stumbled across one where the local authority had applied to take several children from one family into care.
I followed that through its last few days - hearing evidence from the father, and the court-appointed guardian, the final submissions and the judgement a few days later.

Children as young as four are being expelled from school for sexual behaviour, finds Ofsted

2009-07-01T12:39:00.000+01:00

http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/june/24/12.htm

Children as young as four have been excluded from school for 'inappropriate sexual behaviour', Ofsted has revealed.
More than one in five primary schools has raised the alarm over pupils' conduct.
A study of 69 schools showed that a total of 14 had witnessed this type of behaviour.
In eight school, pupils had been suspended or expelled as a result. Two schools reported a 'worrying lack of response from social workers'.
One head teacher was told that a child of five or six whose behaviour was displaying 'sexual elements' was 'too young for a referral and he might grow out of it'.
The Ofsted report urges teachers to keep details of every child expelled for this kind of problem and monitor any action taken by the relevant support services.
Mick Brookes, the National Association of Headteachers general secretary, said: 'Some of it could be innocent childish behaviour, but there are some quite worrying things going on.'
Ofsted investigated after figures revealed more than 4,000 children under the age of five were expelled last year.
Inspectors found that some primaries had suspended the same children more than ten times in a year.
Schools reported youngsters biting, persistent disobedience, swearing, running away from staff, kicking or hitting staff, throwing chairs and climbing over the school fence.
The report criticised one school for branding a child 'feral' in behaviour records and writing a behaviour policy with a 'negative tone'.

Probe into Scots child protection demanded

2009-07-01T12:38:00.000+01:00

http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/june/24/11.htm

Inspectors praise aberdeenfor tackling problems The Scottish Government was last night under pressure to order an inquiry into crisis-hit child protection services. Labour and Conservatives demanded immediate action following a third damning report into child protection in just eight months. HM Inspectorate of Education found a litany of weaknesses and failures in Dundee, very similar to those in Aberdeen last November and Moray in February. In the case of Aberdeen, inspectors had said they were not confident all children at risk of harm, abuse or neglect, and in need of protection, were receiving support. They found 10 categories weak, four unsatisfactory and four satisfactory. The findings were branded very concerning by the Scottish Government. However, child protection chiefs in Aberdeen have acted to make improvements in the last seven months, under interim social work director Philip Cotterill. A follow-up inspection report published today said they responded positively to the main points of action. It said there had been significant improvements in the leadership and direction of the city council and social workers are now working in a more open and supportive environment. Childrens Minster Adam Ingram said encouraging progress is being made. The Dundee report was issued three months early following toddler Brandon Muirs death from an assault by his mothers boyfriend, Robert Cunningham, who was jailed for the youngsters culpable homicide. The report said vulnerable children did not receive help until their circumstances had reached crisis levels.

Inspections on care regime 'vital for child protection'

2009-07-01T12:37:00.002+01:00

http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/june/24/10.htm

INDEPENDENT INSPECTIONS for thousands of children and adults in institutional care are needed to prevent the abuse and neglect highlighted in the Ryan report into industrial schools.
That was one of a number of recommendations made at a conference at Queens University Belfast yesterday, aimed at learning lessons from mistakes highlighted in the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse.
The conclusions will be given to Minister for Children Barry Andrews, who has been tasked with drawing up an action plan on foot of the Ryan reports findings.
Dr Aoife Nolan, assistant director of the human rights centre at Queens Universitys school of law, said it was vital to tap into the momentum caused by outrage over the reports findings to benefit current and future children in Ireland.
She said there was an urgent need to put a comprehensive constitutional amendment to the electorate that would strengthen the rights of children and allow the public to vote in favour of maximising protection for young people.
While such an amendment will not transform the position of children, it will constitute a significant societal statement of intent, she said. Crucially, rather than just serving as a stick with which the elected branches of government will be beaten by the courts, it will establish a mandate and an imperative for those branches to adopt a truly child rights-based approach in law and policy.
Dr Nolan said there had been a shameful lack of urgency on the part of the Government and politicians to acknowledge the need to improve the rights enjoyed by children under the Constitution.
A crucial part of any future recommendations must be an obligation on the State to ensure the voices of victims form part of any future actions, said Christine Buckley, director of the Aislinn Centre and a former victim of institutional abuse.
She said victims were among the best placed to offer ongoing advice and monitoring of the States efforts to address issues such as the abuse of children in institutions.
Fiona Duignan of Inclusion Ireland, an umbrella group which represents people with intellectual disabilities, said her organisation was very disappointed that the Government opted just weeks before the Ryan report not to enforce care standards or inspections of residential centres for people with disabilities.

Peace process in disorder

2009-07-01T12:37:00.001+01:00

http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/june/24/09.htm

Judges' powers are rarely being used to help prevent marital conflict causing damage to children
Few parents have attended a court-ordered programme to help reduce the harm their children suffer from family splits - more than six months after judges were given the power to make them take part.
Since December, judges have been able to order separated parents embroiled in court battles over their children to go to parent information programmes. These classes, which teach parents the long-term effects of their warfare on their children and give them tips on how to avoid conflict with their ex-partner, have proved highly successful in other countries, including the US, Canada and Australia.
In a pilot programme in Australia, 88% of parents said they found it useful, reporting that they learned communication techniques and dispute resolution skills, and gained greater understanding of their children's experiences.
The reform in England and Wales was backed by fathers' groups. A poll last week by charity Families Need Fathers found that nearly 95% of its members felt they were not adequately supported by the family courts and the Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service (Cafcass) in staying involved with their children after separation.
Judges' slowness to embrace the new tool is causing huge frustration to the 55 agencies - many of them charities such as Relate, Family Action, and the National Youth Advocacy Service - that have contracted with the Department for Children, Schools and Families to provide the programmes and have trained their staff to deliver them. The dearth of cases poses a threat to their funding because they budgeted to be paid for hundreds of referrals .
Salli Ward, chief executive of Pro Contact, one of five providers in Greater Manchester, says they have had only two referrals, both so recent that nobody has yet taken the course. "The parenting programme is relevant to 90% of parents in court proceedings, so we should be getting swarms of them coming," she says.
The four-hour course, which parents attend separately, helps them to understand that conflict can harm their children, and that putting them in front of the TV while they argue is not enough. Ward says: "What they don't realise is how easy it is to damage children through just very subtle displays of conflict. You don't need to be scrapping in front of them."
A survey of providers by Cafcass, which is responsible for the programme, has revealed only 23 referrals to date, and 11 of those were in Bournemouth, where Relate is actively promoting the programme.

Thousands of violent children excluded from primary school

2009-07-01T12:36:00.001+01:00

http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/Thousands_of_violent_children_excluded_from_primary_school.htm

Thousands of very young children are being excluded from primary schools for physically attacking pupils and teachers, research by The Times shows.
It exposes the extent to which children of infant-school age are being expelled or suspended, even though the tactic is more commonly associated with uncontrollable teenagers.
The Times survey of 25 local authorities found that almost 4,000 primary school children had been excluded for fixed periods in 2007-08.
This is the national equivalent to 25,128, a 6 per cent increase on last year, if extrapolated to cover the whole of England. Over the same period the primary school population fell by almost 20,000, so the real rise is 6.7 per cent.
More than three quarters of those who gave reasons said that one of the biggest causes of exclusion was the child physically assaulting another pupil. Another main reason was attacking a teacher.
Our findings underline national figures, which show temporary exclusions in primary schools have risen by 10 per cent in three years, from 41,300 in 2004 to 45,730 in 2007, because staff could not cope with their threatening and disruptive behaviour.
More than 1,200 of the fixed-term exclusions in 2007 involved children aged 4 and under. Another 12,000 were under the age of 8.
Our survey paints a picture of teachers struggling to deal with violence from ever-younger children, some of whom in effect drop out of the education system before reaching secondary school.
John Bangs, head of education at the National Union of Teachers, said: Theres a small and growing group of very young children creating very real problems, over whom parents seem to have no control. Its a relatively new phenomenon for primary schools. They are reporting that groups of parents have real problems with their young children.
Professor Carl Parsons, who has researched primary school exclusions for 16 years, said that children may be picking up bad behaviour younger. The rise in fixed-term exclusions could be because there are more socially troubled families who are more isolated and less able to provide guidance and support for children.
Many primary schools do not have the resources to deal with aggressive children in any other way, as they lack staff to offer one-to-one teaching and do not have on-call child psychiatrists.

Ofsted report reveals data on very young children excluded from school

2009-07-01T12:35:00.000+01:00

http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/june/24/08.htm

Very young children are being excluded from primary school because of their aggressive and sexual behaviour, an Ofsted report says.
The schools receive inadequate support from local authorities in some cases, or cannot afford the alternative strategies that help troubled young children to cope with school.
Some have repeatedly removed children under the age of 7, for fixed periods or permanently, although the total numbers of exclusions are still low for this age group. Reasons for exclusion included biting, chair-throwing and inappropriate sexual behaviour.
Earlier this month The Times exposed the extent to which children as young as 4 were being excluded, after a survey of local authorities.
The Ofsted report, published today, paints a picture of some schools struggling to cope with the disturbed behaviour of children from complex backgrounds.
Some of the children had been exposed to domestic violence, sexual abuse, poverty or a parents illness. One boy had seen his mother killed in a refugee camp.
The report criticises the Government for not collecting enough data on exclusions. This has resulted in an incomplete picture of what has been happening to children aged 7 and under, it says.
Primary schools did not always receive adequate support from the local authority, in addressing childrens mental health needs or getting specialist support for overtly sexual behaviour.
Early intervention, and strategies such as nurture groups (small supportive groups) were highly effective, but schools often could not afford to put these in place. Those that managed to reduce the number of exclusions had all taken a strong line on low-level disruptive behaviour. Two groups of infant and primary schools were selected for the survey: one where the number of exclusions was high and one that did not exclude children.
The report said: What determined a schools rate of exclusion was not its social context but the combination of its philosophy, capacity to meet challenges and, sometimes, the response received from its local authority and outside agencies when they were asked to help.

9 city school kids abused, say UK police

2009-07-01T12:34:00.000+01:00

http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/june/24/07.htm

CHENNAI: Nine students of St George Anglo Indian Higher Secondary School were sexually abused by Patrick Matthews, a 62-year-old UK national who worked as a volunteer in the school between 2003 and 2006, a four-member team of Gloucestershire Constabulary, UK has concluded. The UK team, which arrived in the city for the investigation on June 13, will now present the evidence to the Crown Prosecution Service, UK for initiating criminal proceedings against Matthews who is on bail in that country.
"We have interviewed 14 children and 16 adults. We are convinced that these nine students and former students (of St George School) were sexually abused. We have strong evidence against Matthews," detective inspector Mark Little told TOI. The team will fly back to the UK on Wednesday. Little said this is the first case his specialist child protection team was handling under the Sexual Offences Act, 2003, outside the UK. The Act gives special powers to the state to prosecute its national who commits a sexual offence even outside that country.
In an earlier statement, Little added: "I hope the management of St Georges School and the Boarding Home comes to understand its duties to prevent abuse and immediately report incidents of abuse to the parents and to the authorities when allegations come to light. These responsibilities can be achieved through staff training and by having clear child protection policies in place within organisations working with children."
The investigation obviously has not gone down well with the St George School officials who had, however, promised all assistance in bringing out the truth. "The investigation by the UK police has further traumatised the students. The investigators' intention may have been to punish the accused, but the process has left some of the students they interviewed in a bad shape. I had to organise an excursion to pep them up. One of the boys was weeping even today and refusing to attend class," said school correspondent G K Francis.

Dundee child protection services criticised for 'major weaknesses' by new report

2009-07-01T12:33:00.000+01:00

http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/june/23/08.htm

INSPECTORS have blasted Dundee's child protection services - just a few months after the conviction of Brandon Muir's killer.
Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Education warned of "major weaknesses" in identifying children who needed protection and that "some children were left in high-risk situations without adequate protection or support".
Their report comes after the conviction of Robert Cunningham, 23, for the culpable homicide of 23-month-old Dundee toddler Brandon Muir in the flat he shared with the toddler's mother Heather Boyd.
During Cunningham's trial it emerged Dundee City Council's social work department had been in contact with Boyd before Bandon's death.
Today's HMIE report did not look at the Brandon Muir case, pointing out that Dundee Children and Young Persons Protection Committee had commissioned a significant case review into the circumstances surrounding Brandon's death.
And the chief officers group of Dundee City Council, Tayside Police and NHS Tayside has commissioned an independent review of matters relating to the youngster's death.
HMIE inspectors could not "assure the quality of service received by every single child in the area who might need help".
Most staff recognised when children were at risk of abuse or neglect but "not all of these children were reported quickly to social workers or police".
The report continued: "Immediate action was sometimes delayed and some children were left in high-risk situations without adequate protection or support.
"The needs of vulnerable children and those recovering from abuse were not always met well.
"Staff across services did not always respond quickly enough to children who were at risk of significant harm.

Social worker Lynda Barnes 'devastated' by court ruling

2009-07-01T12:32:00.000+01:00

http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/june/23/07.htm

A social worker convicted of conspiring to murder her husband has said her life and health have been "devastated" following a family court judgement criticising her conduct.
Last week, the ruling revealed that the General Social Care Council and Bath and North East Somerset Council failed to check Lynda Barnes's criminal file when registering her and employing her as a children's team manager.
Judge Barclay slammed "serious failings" by the council and Barnes in the handling of a child protection case. Barnes lied under oath and also "fabricated" evidence, the judgement published last week said.
Conviction 'never a secret'
In response, Barnes's solicitor issued a statement on her behalf saying that her previous conviction "was never a secret" and was widely known among professionals before the case was concluded.
John Weatherall said: "Mrs Barnes always endeavoured to be a supportive and professional team leader with Bath and North East Somerset Council. She denies that she ever told anyone to lie in court or manufactured evidence.
'Trauma' of events
"The events leading to her conviction occurred during a period of great trauma in her life. She sought counselling and reconciled with her husband. She disclosed her previous conviction to the GSCC and gave permission for the criminal file to be disclosed. She never deliberately misled anyone.
Background to the case
The family court judgement naming Barnes said that she had been a social worker at Avon Council in the child care department when she was convicted for conspiring to murder her husband.

Schools 'need not expel under-7s'

2009-07-01T12:31:00.000+01:00

http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/june/23/06.htm

Schools can avoid excluding very young children through techniques to manage behaviour that includes running off, biting and swearing, inspectors say.
It is rare for schools to exclude those aged seven or under and those that do are usually in very deprived areas.
Ofsted compared schools in England that had done so with others that had not.
It found good relationships with parents, opportunities for children to talk together and the use of nurture groups all helped prevent exclusions.
The latest figures, for 2006-07, show there were 13,460 fixed term exclusions [suspensions] and about 260 permanent exclusions - with boys 10 times as likely as girls to be excluded.
Refusal
Inspectors visited 30 schools which had excluded several young children on more than one occasion.
They also went to neighbouring schools which had not used exclusion during the same period and 12 which had excluded only one young child but on several occasions.
In the report, The Exclusion From School of Children Aged Four To Seven, Ofsted said most children "responded well to the school's expectations", but a few found this difficult.
Ofsted chief inspector Christine Gilbert said: "Exclusion of children aged under seven is still very rare.
"Ofsted inspectors found that almost all children in the schools they visited knew how to behave properly.
"Only a small number of children found this difficult but, with proper guidance and support, the need to exclude them can be avoided."

News from the Welsh National Social Services Conference

2009-07-01T12:30:00.000+01:00

http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/june/23/05.htm

Welsh government to pilot integrated response to families where parents have complex needs
Delegates at last week's Welsh National Social Services Conference welcomed plans to establish multi-agency teams to support families where parents have complex needs but raised concerns about how they would be implemented.
The Welsh government is to legislate to introduce integrated family support teams (IFSTs) from 2013-15, following a pilot in three authorities starting next year. The pilot areas will be announced next month, with each receiving Pfund1.8m over three years.
Speaking at last week's conference Neelam Bhardwaja, president of the Association of Directors of Social Services Cymru and director of social services at Cardiff Council, said the teams would improve multi-agency care planning and speed up response times.
Yvonne Rodgers, director of Barnardo's Cymru, said the multi-disciplinary approach would provide better support to parents with complex needs.
Delegates' concerns
However, in a seminar on the scheme at the conference, delegates raised concerns about how the teams would work in practice and the level of funding available for non-pilot authorities.
The multi-professional teams will also test new workforce roles, such as that of social work consultant. In Hackney, east London, consultants have led small teams working with vulnerable children and families and taken responsibility for all cases while continuing to practice.

Child protection failures

2009-07-01T12:29:00.002+01:00

http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/june/23/04.htm

IN WHAT is virtually a carbon copy of previous damning reports into child protection failures by local authorities in the north-east, it is now Dundees turn to hang its head in shame.
Government inspectors have already delivered their shocking verdicts on poor child protection among public bodies based in Aberdeen and Moray. Dundee has received an almost identical report in the wake of the killing of toddler Brandon Muir.
A picture is emerging which shows the malaise has been spreading throughout social services and its partner agencies. Far from being isolated, the incompetence was endemic. Aberdeen moved swiftly to implement urgent reforms without ever really explaining how it got into such a mess in the first place.
All of these authorities have highly-paid professionals drawn from every strand of child protection and from the highest levels, yet they still failed to protect children at risk adequately.

Ofsted finds primary children excluded: 'A very high rate of children acting in sexually inappropriate ways'

2009-07-01T12:29:00.001+01:00

http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/june/23/03.htm

Ofsted finds primary children excluded: 'A very high rate of children acting in sexually inappropriate ways'
Polly Curtis, education editor, on an Ofsted report finding primary school children as young as four excluded.
Polly Curtis, Speaks About The Ofsted Report.

City’s child care chiefs are failing youngsters

2009-07-01T12:28:00.001+01:00

http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/june/23/02.htm

Inspectors condemn Dundee council and other agencies
Child protection chiefs in Dundee have been accused of failing to take action to protect vulnerable youngsters until their circumstances reach crisis levels.
A damning report into the citys child protection service published today the first since the death of Dundee toddler Brandon Muir last March revealed a litany of weaknesses and failures.
HM Inspectorate of Education officials, who published the report three months early at the bequest of SNP ministers in wake of Brandons death, had no confidence that all children at risk of harm, abuse and neglect are protected.
They found major weaknesses in the type of help children are given in immediate response to concerns for their safety.
The report, one of the worst in Scotland alongside criticism of Aberdeen services last year and Moray in February, graded eight of the 18 categories examined as weak.
The indictment applied to leadership, policies, procedures and planning.
Six categories were rated as satisfactory, one as unsatisfactory and three as good.
No aspect of the service by Dundee City Council, Tayside Police, NHS Tayside, the Scottish Childrens Reporter and voluntary and independent organisations was rated excellent or very good.
The inspectors, who looked at services in February and March, said there were not enough social workers to respond quickly to all the needs of vulnerable children.
They found that some youngsters had been removed from the child protection register without clear evidence that the identified risks to their safety had been reduced.
The report focuses on child protection services in general and not the circumstances that led to the death last year of 23-month-old Brandon.
Its author, Jacquie Pepper, said: Inspectors were not confident that all children who were at risk of harm, abuse or neglect, in need of protection were identified and received the help and support they needed.

Keep family law private, says solicitor

2009-06-25T00:14:00.000+01:00

http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/june/24/06.htm

Family law solicitor William Edwards has criticised government changes which are supposed to open up family courts to the scrutiny of the Press and has vowed to fight to try and stop them.
The new rules state that, unless specifically excluded by a judge, accredited journalists can attend custody, care and divorce proceedings. Until now, these proceedings have generally been held in private.
Mr Edwards, who is based in Midsomer Norton, said: "It is essential that the public has total confidence in the courts that deal with family law.
"However, there is also the necessity to protect the identity of children, which is why, until now, proceedings concerning children have generally been held in private.
"The new rules may well allow a journalist to go into a family court. However, the rules also state that they are not allowed to report on what they actually hear in court.
"A cynic may claim that the new rules supposedly put in place to make family law courts 'less secret' are no more than a sop to pressure groups. In reality, they change nothing."
Mr Edwards, who is head of family law at Thatcher & Hallam, is also a member of both the Law Society's family law panel and the specialist family lawyers' organisation Resolution.
He says he will not be giving up in his quest to obtain real reform of the law.

Social worker case runs up bill for taxpayer

2009-06-25T00:13:00.000+01:00

http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/june/24/05.htm

Taxpayers will have to foot a legal bill approaching a million pounds after the court case involving hitman-hiring social worker Lynda Barnes.
The complex family court case exposed Mrs Barnes' criminal past and her lies under oath and the judge hearing it was so concerned that he ordered the council chiefs who hired her to pay half the legal aid costs.
So even though the families involved in the case were receiving legal aid for challenging the council and its social workers, Judge Paul Barclay said Bath and North East Somerset Council was so liable that it should pay half their' legal aid bill.
That is expected to pass Pfund500,000, and B&NES will also have to pay its own legal bill conservatively put by the council yesterday at Pfund250,000. The full figures are yet to be calculated, but it is expected to be somewhere between three-quarters and a full one million pounds.
Yesterday, B&NES reassured its taxpayers that services would not be directly affected by the case council chiefs had seen the possibility of a hefty legal bill coming and budgeted for it from their 'risk reserves' pot.
The case, which cannot be reported in detail, was a complex child protection one involving an extended family battling with B&NES social services in the family court. As well as B&NES' own legal team, four other sets of barristers and solicitors were involved representing interested parties.
But the case became significantly more complicated when a colleague of Mrs Barnes told her bosses the social worker had lied under oath and asked her to lie too.
Judge Barclay was so appalled he investigated Mrs Barnes himself and discovered she had been sacked by B&NES's predecessor council, Avon, after being found guilty of attempting to hire a hitman to have her husband murdered back in 1995.

Social worker case runs up bill for taxpayer

2009-06-25T00:12:00.000+01:00

Suffocated girl had been on protection register

2009-06-25T00:11:00.002+01:00

http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/june/24/04.htm

A FOUR-YEAR-OLD girl who is believed to have been suffocated at home, was taken off the child protection register two years ago.
Zoey Anne David was found dead at a house on Bideford Close in the Maesglas area of Newport, on Friday.
A 34-year-old woman, also named locally as Zoey David, was found lying nearby with serious injuries. She remains under arrest on suspicion of murder in hospital where she is being treated for injuries she sustained that day.
It has since emerged that the girl was placed on the child protection register by the Newport Safeguarding Children Board when her family moved to the area in 2007 from London.
By the end of that year the board, which comprises Newport City Council, Gwent Police and the local health board, took the decision to take Zoey Anne off the register.
A spokesman for the board said it was now considering a Serious Case Review.
"Such a review would establish whether there are any lessons to be learnt about the way in which agencies work together to safeguard children," said the spokesman.
"There is specific guidance from the Welsh Assembly Government in relation to Serious Case Reviews that will be followed in this case.
"It is our understanding that this child had previously been on the Child Protection Register in Newport in 2007 and any relevant information relating to the work of agencies with the family will be considered during the Serious Case Review process."

City's child services 'improving'

2009-06-25T00:11:00.001+01:00

http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/june/24/03.htm

Efforts to improve the social work service for children in Aberdeen have made encouraging progress, inspectors have said.
It was earlier claimed that children living at risk of abuse or neglect were not being given adequate protection.
The HM Inspector of Education had inspectors in Aberdeen throughout April to follow up an earlier report.
It concluded that the social work service had been successful in laying effective foundations for improvement.
The report has been welcomed by the north east of Scotland child protection committee (NESCPC).
NESCPC chairman, Chief Constable Colin McKerracher, said: "I am pleased this report recognises all the good work and improvements made in Aberdeen.
"Agencies and their staff have worked closely together and this helps us all to strengthen services for children across the city."
New director
Aberdeen City Council's chief executive Sue Bruce added: "It is very encouraging to see the progress made to date."
Aberdeen's new director of social care and wellbeing, Fred McBride, was the head of children's services in Dundee at the time of toddler Brandon Muir's killing.
The case sparked a review of child protection services as it emerged that social workers had been alerted to concerns over Brandon.
Robert Cunningham was jailed for 10 years after being found guilty of 23-month-old Brandon's culpable homicide.

Brandon father’s ‘shock’ at child protection report

2009-06-25T00:10:00.000+01:00

http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/june/24/02.htm

BRANDON MUIRS father John was in shock when he learned that a report on Dundees child protection services had highlighted so many major deficiencies, his family said yesterday.
Johns sister Dayna Garty called for the immediate resignation of Alan Baird, the citys director of social work, and recently-appointed chairman of the committee overseeing child protection in the city.
She said they also feel for other children who have been let down by child protection services in Dundee.
Its all very well for them to say theyre sorry and it wont happen again but they always wait until its too late, she added. They are all for giving people chances but that means its the kids who get hurt.
Brandon was just 23 months old when he was killed by Robert Cunningham, his mothers boyfriend.
The case prompted the Scottish Governments children and early years minister Adam Ingram to bring forward the results of an inspection on Dundees child services.
That inspection, headed by Her Majestys Inspectorate of Education (HMIE), found nine of the 19 quality indicators that they considered were either weak or unsatisfactory and it uncovered major problems in the identification of children at risk and the provision of a speedy response to their needs.
Although Brandons family has always been highly critical of the role they feel social services played in the toddlers death, even they were shocked by the damning report, Dayna told The Courier.
I definitely didnt think it was going to come out as bad as it did, she said.
I was absolutely appalled when I read it in the paper. There were so many sectors which were unsatisfactory.

Blackpool nursery sex abuse fears

2009-06-25T00:09:00.000+01:00

http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/june/24/01.htm

A NURSERY school worker accused of abusing children has worked at a number of creches in Blackpool, we can reveal.
Jon Lee Fraser, 21, appeared before resort magistrates yesterday charged with sexually assaulting a boy and girl, both aged seven.
The offences are alleged to have taken place on February 19 and March 3 at the nursery in Blackpool where Fraser, of Erdington Road, worked.
The Gazette has chosen not to name the creche the allegations relate to in order to protect the identities of the children involved.
However, police today confirmed they were now speaking to managers at other nurseries in the resort where Fraser is known to have worked.
A Lancashire Police spokeswoman said: "It is true Mr Fraser has worked for very short periods of time as a nursery worker at a number of other nurseries.
"We are working closely with the managers of those nurseries and the relevant local authorities.
"At this stage there is no information to suggest any further alleged offences, or that at any time he was left by the resident staff on his own with the children in a situation where any other offences could have been committed."
The spokeswoman added: "If any parent is worried about their children then utilise the advice and guidance on the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) website www. ceop.gov.uk or the advice from the NSPCC."

Brandon report slams city’s child protection

2009-06-25T00:08:00.000+01:00

http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/june/23/01.htm

CHILD PROTECTION services in Dundee have been severely criticised in a damning report published today.
The report, prepared in the wake of the Brandon Muir case, was compiled by a team of independent assessors led by Her Majestys Inspectorate of Education and has raised major concerns over the effectiveness of services to protect vulnerable children in the city and meet their needs.
Of the 18 quality indicators the team looked at, nine were either weak or unsatisfactory, six were satisfactory and only three were described as good.
The report showed there were major weaknesses in the identification of children who needed protection, staff across services did not always respond quickly enough to children who were at risk of significant harm and they did not always report concerns until the childs circumstances had reached crisis point.
The report follows the killing last year of 23-month-old Brandon Muir at the hands of Robert Cunningham, the boyfriend of the Dundee toddlers mother.
Cunningham was jailed for 10 years for culpable homicide at the High Court in March, although he is appealing against his conviction.
The month-long inspection, which is part of a rolling programme looking at all 32 Scottish local authorities, was already under way when the trial ended.
Its results had been due to be published in September, but concern over Brandons death prompted the Scottish Government to order the findings to be released in June instead, with children and early years minister Adam Ingram saying a clear picture of how childrens services were operating in the city was needed as quickly as possible.
That picture is a hugely damning one which highlights significant delays in protecting children at risk of neglect or emotional abuse, particularly those affected by parental substance misuse, which the multi-agency Dundee Children and Young Persons Protection Committee has acknowledged and says it has already begun to address.
Some children, the report said, were left for too long in circumstances which placed them at risk of significant harm.

Police to monitor fugitive pervert

2009-06-25T00:07:00.000+01:00

http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/june/22/03.htm

A DECISION not to extradite fugitive Sheffield paedophile Peter Wheatherley from Spain was made because he may not receive a custodial sentence even if he was returned to Britain.
The 41-year-old, formerly of Kinnaird Road, Shiregreen, is one of four perverts on the Child Exploitation and Online Protection agency's national Most Wanted list, published on the internet.
Although he has served his time, he is wanted for failin to notify police of his address so officers can keep tabs on his activities - an offence carrying a maximum sentence of six months in prison.
As British authorities have now found out where he is living, so he could be monitored by Spanish police, officers do not believe the time and trouble of bringing an extradition case would be justified given he can only receive a light sentence.
A South Yorkshire Police spokesman said: "Since the end of 2007, Peter Wheatherley has been living on the Costa del Sol, where the Spanish authorities are aware of him.
"We are continuing to liaise with them about any potential risk he poses.
"Wheatherley has served his time for his original offence, but is currently wanted for a breach of notification requirements - essentially failing to provide his name and address - under the Sexual Offences Act 2003.

Trust will 'strengthen' child protection

2009-06-25T00:05:00.000+01:00

http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/june/22/02.htm

STRENGTHENING child protection took a step forward after Haringey Council's cabinet approved plans for a children's trust.
The Haringey Children's Trust (HCT) has been set up to improve child protection in the borough following a joint area review in the wake of the Baby P case.
It will play a leading role in shaping all children's services including education, social care, health and the police. Its three key priorities are identifying children at risk of harm to ensure their safety, addressing inequalities in education and tackling child poverty.
Councillor Lorna Reith, cabinet member for children and young people, will also chair the children's trust.

City child protection criticised

2009-06-25T00:04:00.002+01:00

http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/june/22/01.htm

Child protection services in Dundee have been severely criticised in a report by inspectors.
The report from Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Education (HMIe) said many youngsters did not get help until the situation was at crisis point.
Publication of the study was brought forward following the death of 23-month-old Brandon Muir.
Brandon was killed by his mother's drug addict boyfriend Robert Cunningham, who was sentenced to 10 years in jail.
Cunningham is appealing his culpable homicide conviction.
Child protection services in Dundee were inspected in February and March of this year. The Brandon Muir trial was taking place at that time, although the case was not considered by inspectors.
Inspectors examined the workings of the city council, police, NHS Tayside, the Scottish Children's Reporter Administration and voluntary and independent groups.
Child protection services were rated "unsatisfactory", which meant there were major weaknesses, in one area - that of making sure that children were helped in immediate response to concerns.
In particular, there was concern about the help given to children who were exposed to domestic abuse, their parents' drug and alcohol problems and mental ill health.
The HMIe report found that Dundee was "weak" in eight of the 18 quality indicators examined. Services were rated "satisfactory" in six areas and "good" in three.

The Court of Appeal of Sarah, Ian and Crystal Walton's Judgement of the 20th March 2009

2009-06-25T00:04:00.001+01:00

http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/our_court_of_appeal_judgement_of_the_20th_march_2009.htm

Lord Justice Wilson:1. Married parents, living together, apply for permission to appeal against orders made by Hedley J in the High Court, Family Division, Principal Registry, on 30 January 2009. I am sorry to have been told this afternoon that the father is indisposed today and in effect unable to attend court. The mother has attended court, with the considerable support of Mrs Docherty, her McKenzie friend; and the mother has been endowed with authority by the father to speak on behalf of both of them in support of the application. The mothers submissions were no less helpful for having been short. She made the submissions primarily by reference to notes made, perhaps, with the assistance of others; and I am very grateful to her for taking on the burden of addressing the Court of Appeal this afternoon.
2. The proceedings relate to their child, who has been given the initial A. She is a girl who is now aged four. It is a tragedy, at any rate for the parents, that A has never lived with the father and has scarcely lived with the mother. For the first four months of her life, A lived with the mother in the home of the maternal grandparents; but thereupon she was placed in short-term foster care pursuant to a series of interim care orders. In October 2006, notwithstanding the most active opposition of the parents, orders were made which placed A in the full care of the London Borough of Enfield (the local authority) and authorised As placement for adoption. Those orders, sought by the local authority, have also attracted the support of As Childrens Guardian. It was shortly after the making of those orders that the contact of the parents with A, which had been supervised, ceased. In April 2007 Munby J, sitting as an additional judge of this court, refused the application of the parents for permission to appeal against the care and placement orders. Accordingly, albeit only in March 2008, A was placed for adoption. The proposed adopters have now issued an application for an adoption order to be made in relation to A and their application is fixed to be heard next month, April 2009.

A gay couple adopted our grandchildren.. and kids think we're dead

2009-06-22T15:11:00.000+01:00

http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/june/21/01.htm

Despite looking after their five-year-old grandson and four-year-old granddaughter for three years, social workers decided they were "too old" and unsuitable to continue.
And, tragically, the children now think that their grandparents are dead.
"Social workers made up their minds that we were too old," says the grandad, who is 59. His wife is just 46 and both look much younger.
"It just breaks my heart and eats away at me every day. My own grandchildren have been wrenched away and now they think that me and their granny are dead."
The children went to live with their grandparents because their mother, a heroin addict, couldn't look after them. The boy's father is dead and the girl's father has not had any contact with her.
But social workers later insisted the children would be better off with the two gay men. "My wife and I were happy bringing the children up ourselves," says the grandfather.
"We are their family. Now we've been told we'll never see them again. How can that possibly be right? They are our flesh and blood."
The children have now been given new identities and totally removed from their former life, family and friends.
The only contact their grandparents have had with the children in the last eight months is a two-paragraph letter from their new parents giving a few scraps of news about the pair.

Parents deserve better than this

2009-06-22T15:10:00.000+01:00

http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/june/17/02.htm

WHAT parent would feel comfortable knowing their child could be taken away from them at any moment and adopted on the basis of an unproven accusation?
Yet this is exactly what happened to a couple who after four years of fighting through the courts have lost their daughter for good.
It would take a cold heart not to sympathise a father unable to clear his name in a criminalcourt because the evidence is so weak it wouldnt even make it to trial. And a mother being told she is not allowed to keep her only child if she stays loyal to her husband.

Couple despair as incomprehensible decision rubber-stamps ‘forced adoption’ of their baby

2009-06-22T15:09:00.002+01:00

http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/news/archive/2009/june/17/01.htm

PIXELATED in this photographare two proud parents doting on their newborn daughter.
But just like their identities in this photo, the familys future has been obliterated by a court system which, they claim, was determined to tear them apart. Just a short time after the snap was taken, the little girl who, along with her parents, cannot be identified due to a draconian injunction served on the Advertiser was forcibly taken from her Enfield home by social workers backed by police officers.
And now, following four years of heartbreaking struggle by the parents to get her back, during which judge after judge has publicly sympathised with their plight and innocence but remained unwilling to disagree with their fellow judges, she has been officially adopted by another couple.
Their only crime was for the father to be accused though never charged or convicted of injuring his son from a previous marriage by shaking him.
Perversely, the courts and his former partner allow him full unsupervised access to the boy and his sister, yet his daughter with his new wife was taken by social
workers on the vague subjective basis that she was at risk of potential future harm.
The father has consistently denied hurting his son and the couple were given a last chance to win their daughter back by challenging the accusation in the High Court in February.