Family Courts must lift their veil of Secrecy
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| Family Courts must lift their veil
of Secrecy By Benedict Brogan, Political Editor 24 June 2006 Source: Daily Mail and Fassit's response. THE secrecy surrounding the family justice system will be shattered next month under plans to give children who are removed from their parents the right to know why. Judges and social workers will have to provide a written 'life story' to be handed over when a child in care reaches 18. It will set out the details of their case and explain the decision to put them up for adoption. It raises the prospect of teenagers discovering for the first time the harrowing details of their childhood and the truth about their parents. A radical package of measures to be unveiled by the Government will also open around 400,000 cases a year in the Family Courts to the media and the public. Ministers are debating going further by giving social workers and courts inspectors the right to scrutinise the way decisions about the future of children are taken. Frustrated parents have compared the family courts system to Guantanamo Bay for the way it works behind closed doors and with stringent secrecy requirements They say it is one of the 'dark corners' of British justice that is dominated by unaccountable social workers and is in desperate need of an overhaul. Campaigners say rules set up to defend a child's privacy are being used to cover up miscarriages of justice. And they claim that in some cases mothers have been driven to suicide by the impact of having a child removed against their will. The system handles everything from divorce to settlements to crucial decisions about the future of children, including what contact they should have with their parents. Its decisions are covered by complex reporting bans that make it a contempt of court to report proceedings or decisions. Family Law Minister Harriet Harman will announce next month measures to open the courts to public scrutiny. Questions which they need answered She will outline plans for a pilot scheme to begin later this year that will see family proceedings in the High Court opened to the public under controlled conditions. Legislation will follow. Openness will be offset by measures - including a criminal offence - to protect the anonymity of those involved. This gives judges the right to exclude "nosy neighbours'. The Department for Constitutional Affairs warns to force the courts and social workers to explain their decisions in writing. What Miss Harman describes as a 'life story' would be handed to the child on its 18th birthday, in an attempt to set the record straight. She argues that a written statement would help to dispel potential family myths, and that the court is the 'most impartial and objective source' to explain the decisions to a young adult. "For some adopted children, finding their birth parents leaves them with even more questions which they need answered,' she said. They need to know what the court did that changed their life so profoundly and why.' She added: 'Public confidence depends on public scrutiny. It has to be seen to be believed and justice not only has to be done it has to be seen to be done - including in the family courts. I think, in this day and age, it is hard for people to value what they cannot see. It is hard for people to have confidence in something which is closed. It is impossible to defend a system from accusations of bias and discrimination if it operates behind closed doors.' -------------------------- Response From our own correspondent 25th June 2006 Response to likely announcement by DCA on ' openness in Family Court proceedings', as detailed in Benedict Brogan's article in the Daily Mail 24 June 2006.. You have been warned......This is a confidence trick, played on the public by the Department of Constitutional Affairs and Tony Blair and his cronies. For the following reasons: 1....Providing a 'life' story to the child at 18 is too late. The damage is done by the false evidence presented to the court on which the judgements are based. It is noticeable that there is no mention of prosecuting social workers, paediatricians or others engaged in perjury. Unless that is addressed as one of the foremost issues, the measures are a cover-up of what has already become endemic to the system. 2.....There is no mention of measures to deal with those social workers , paediatricians and others who have been involved, and sometimes routinely involved in the many hundreds of cases in whcih children have already been taken into care and adopted. Some of the social workers and paediatricians have reached senior positions .....Are we to understand that they are to have an 'amnesty' ?....Which would mean that Dr. Harold Shipman type characters will be allowed to remain 'in post' and continue with their corrupt practises at the public's expense. 3........Notice too the clever interjection " Openness will be offset by measures- including a criminal offence - to protect the anonymity of those involved". Once again....' those involved' are the social workers, paediatricians and other public officials...........But I thought the anonymity was to protect the identity of the children involved in the case before the courts.....If the social workers, paediatricians and others giving evidence are also to be anonymised.....How then can one prosecute them for perjury....Indeed, it it only repeating the situation that has appertained up to the present. Once again, threats of imprisonment will be used against members of the public, to ensure a 'cover-up'......But, that is the present situation....So what's changed ? 4....'Proceedings in the High Court will be opened to the public under controlled conditions'.........But hang on a minute......Most of the cases are heard in the County Courts..........And what 's all this about 'controlled conditions'. Some harrowing cases are heard in the criminal courts and the children's identities and parts of the evidence are heard in camera ( restricted audience).....What's wrong with that being applied in Family Court cases? 5.....Comparing the Family Courts to Camp Delta in Guantanamo Bay, does Guantanamo Bay a disservice. Those imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay are named. Their lawyers are able to bring their plight to the attention of the press and the public. The gulag of the industry within the Family Court is concerned that any 'openness' will reveal the extent of the corruption that has spawned an industry of mainly public officials....social workers and others who have made a lucrative career, in an environment that is unscrutinised, unaccountable.......But is massively funded by the state...ALL In SECRET! Be warned.....This is another of smarmy Tony Blair's government's tricks, to maintain a cover-up over a most deceitful and tragic victimisation of the public. Harriet Harman is wheeled out as the acceptable face of the government. She and senior officials have made statements such as " The present situation in the Family Courts is completely unjustified. It is untenable. It must radically change." etc, Etc, Etc Etc. In reality, don't expect any change whose purpose is to genuinely address the injustices of this wretched court. Nothing short of the press being allowed into the Family Courts, on the same basis as they report from the criminal courts will do. Those with blood on their hands and in power, will seek to use the power and authority....To hide the bodies........You have been warned. Accept anything less, and the state victimisation of our fellow citizens will continue. |
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