HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!!!!

As it is only three more sleeps until Santa Claus squeezes himself and Rudolph down your chimney, Researching Reform wanted to wish you all a very happy holiday and a 2012 that is not only filled with hope but with hope fulfilled. It probably won’t be as cool as 2013 though, because 12 is just a bit girly as numbers go, but we should humour it. It’s only fair.

Thank you to everyone who takes the time to read our blog and contribute as they do on the blog itself and through other social media sites like Twitter and Facebook and last but not least, by attending our debates in Westminster. There’s nothing more boring than having a one-sided debate with one’s teddy bear (unless we’re having it with Squis, our most favourite teddy bear because he is old, a bit worse for wear and very wise).

We would also like to thank the peers, politicians and organisations we work with who have a genuine desire to make things change. It’s a privilege to be able to communicate with them and share our experiences in the sector.

Family Law is changing, but the change is not made by lawyers or judges or politicians. The changes are made by you. Researching Reform looks forward to seeing you all in the New Year and finding out what other mischief we can make together.

With lots of love, because we’re soft like that,

Researching Reform xxxxx

Supporting Families after the Riots and the Role of Family Law – Speeches

Together with Family Law in Partnership, Researching Reform hosted a debate in the Palace of Westminster on  Monday 12th December, 2011 on the riots this August and what part the family justice system could play in supporting families and easing social unrest.

The speeches for the evening are now up on the site and a summary of the evening will follow shortly.

There are also photos to take a peep at, the quality of which we apologise for as we found ourselves chairing the debate unexpectedly and as a result we were not able to take photos whilst the event was happening! (But we tried to do our best with camera phones)…..

You may note people smiling or even laughing in some of the photos. Strange, but true.

If you’d like to see more about the debate, you can access its home page, here, too.

Panorama: The Truth About Adoption

We’re still a little too emotional to add proper content to this post but we wanted to share the documentary below.

Panaroma’s documentary on the many different faces of adoption, sometimes quite literally, was in itself a masterpiece. It may not have had the time to touch upon the intricacies of the family justice system and why it is failing children (and will continue to do so unless it understands the issues in their entirety, rather than effecting soundbite solutions), but it is a work of art.

What makes this documentary so special, is its delicate handling of the highly emotive world of adoption and foster care – Barnardo’s would do well to observe the dignified and subtle ways in which the programme gets its message across (we are of course referring to their rather crass attempt at publicising their work through the use of a worthless poll trying to loud-speaker dubious perceptions about children); its, rather successful attempt at looking at adoption from all angles and its gentle but insistent message about the failure of the family courts to give these children the support and love they need.

The government seems terribly keen on making things mandatory for families: we would respectfully suggest that the watching of this report be made mandatory, along with several other reports we can think of, for all agents who work within the family justice system, including lawyers. We recommend these reports should be watched or read every week, at the start of each week, so that no one forgets why they’re really there: the kids.

Please watch this short documentary. And please, pass it on to anyone you think should watch it, or cares enough to be moved into action by it.

Many thanks to one of our readers, who kindly drew out attention to the Panorama documentary.

Panorama: The Truth About Adoption

 

Death by Devoted One

It seems as if we have a new story on this theme every week, and sadly they seem to be more horrific than the next.

Our latest news item involves a man who appears to have stabbed his children and his wife and then asphyxiated in his own house fire shortly afterwards.

• Man stabs wife and two young children before dying of smoke inhalation, 11th December, 2011

1,000 children “wrongly” adopted every year

John Hemming MP, who recently gave evidence in Parliament with Martin Narey over child protection issues, has told the BBC that he believes up to 1,000 children a year are being adopted for the wrong reasons; in other words, children are being taken into care when they shouldn’t be. You can view the meeting, in full (both audio and video), here.

The news article is very interesting and it rings true for those in the sector who work daily with families who have had their children removed from their care without any tangible evidence for doing so.

As one might expect, Martin Narey, who is now the government’s adoption adviser (and ex CEO of Barnardo’s) strongly disagreed with this view. The news item is well worth a read.