09 May 2012: Ray Barry in the media
Ray was speaking about absent fathers that do not pay child support, listen again >Link Here< go to around 53 minutes.
02 May 2012: Belfast Decontamination
An Rffj decontamination unit was dispatched with the aim of cleaning up family law in Northern Ireland, police were called when protesters stormed the social services office and staged a sit in.
Regional coordinator Pete Morris said "We wanted to ask social worker managers about their policies of removing children from loving parents, by using reports from often unqualified experts that may not have even met the family involved"
"It's been widely reported that 'experts' like Dr Hibbert were paid huge sums of money, used to vindicate social workers decisions to remove children from parents and put them into care"
"No one would answer our questions, but we know secrecy laws are fuelling a whole industry surrounding the care system"
"This is just the start of the decontaminations in Northern Ireland, we plan to storm the family courts too"
If you would like to get involved with Rffj N/I email: n.ireland@realfathersforjustice.org
01 May 2012: BrS BidloW's Fathers & Children
'A song going out to all the fathers', from new artist BrS BidloW.
01 May 2012: Do expert witnesses harm family courts cases?
A special report by Channel 4 News raises more questions about the role and influence of experts used by family courts to decide the fate of children and their families.
An investigation reveals how flawed expert testimony from paediatricians and psychiatrists is having a profound and disturbing effect on some family cases as they move through the system - at its most extreme, ending with children being wrongfully removed from their parents.
Last month we reported on startling new research which raised a number of serious issues about the quality of evidence given by psychologists in family courts. Among the findings was the fact that some 20 per cent of psychologists were not deemed qualified and that some 65 per cent of expert reports were judged to be poor or very poor quality.
At the time, the Family Justice Council - which part-funded the research - said that it didn't believe that the failings identified would lead to perverse decisions being made by the courts.
An investigation reveals how flawed expert testimony from paediatricians and psychiatrists is having a profound and disturbing effect on some family cases as they move through the system - at its most extreme, ending with children being wrongfully removed from their parents.
Last month we reported on startling new research which raised a number of serious issues about the quality of evidence given by psychologists in family courts. Among the findings was the fact that some 20 per cent of psychologists were not deemed qualified and that some 65 per cent of expert reports were judged to be poor or very poor quality.
At the time, the Family Justice Council - which part-funded the research - said that it didn't believe that the failings identified would lead to perverse decisions being made by the courts.
25 April 2012: Where's Me Kids? Where's Me Home?
Parody of Britain's Got Talent Mr Zip song Wheres Me Keys Wheres Me Phone audition. Mr Lip (aka The Rhyme Minister) raps to UK Prime Minister David Cameron, asking if he's ever been in a situation where he lost his kids and his home.
07 April 2012: Kids in the Middle
>Click Here<
Brian Hill's bittersweet observational film features the story of a separated family whose break up is so acrimonious and the parents are so loath to come in to any contact with one another at all, that it becomes impossible for the father to see his children without the involvement of a contact centre.
This powerful and intimate film explores the lengths to which dads will go to see their kids, the impact of this situation on the children, and the motivations and anxieties that have led mums ands dads to this most specific of locations.
Brian Hill's bittersweet observational film features the story of a separated family whose break up is so acrimonious and the parents are so loath to come in to any contact with one another at all, that it becomes impossible for the father to see his children without the involvement of a contact centre.
This powerful and intimate film explores the lengths to which dads will go to see their kids, the impact of this situation on the children, and the motivations and anxieties that have led mums ands dads to this most specific of locations.
04 April 2012: Hundreds of children involved in bitter custody battles are being abducted and taken abroad
By Steve Doughty - Mail
2 April 2012
Hundreds of children involved in bitter custody battles are being abducted and taken abroad, a report revealed yesterday.
Immigration and the rising number of families where at least one parent has links to another country are behind a fast-rising number of international disputes.
In 2007 there were 27 children caught up in such cases but this is expected to rise to 240 this year.
65 per cent of children born in London in 2010 have one foreign parent. It is when these couples split that messy custody battles, across different countries can take place
65 per cent of children born in London in 2010 have one foreign parent. It is when these couples split that messy custody battles, across different countries can take place
The leap comes despite the introduction by Tony Blair of child passports. Labour said that making every child have its own travel document would stop parents taking children abroad in defiance of court orders.
The figures emerged in a report by Lord Justice Thorpe, chief of the Office of the Head of International Family Justice. The body was set up in 2005 to try to ensure that courts in Britain and abroad work together when one parent flees with a child either from or to Britain.
The Appeal judge said: ‘Sixty-five per cent of children born in London in 2010 had a least one foreign parent. These figures illustrate the potential for significant future growth in international family litigation.’
He added: ‘The tendency of dangerous parents to bolt when social services are exercising legitimate protective powers is all too common.’
2 April 2012
Immigration and the rising number of families where at least one parent has links to another country are behind a fast-rising number of international disputes.
In 2007 there were 27 children caught up in such cases but this is expected to rise to 240 this year.
65 per cent of children born in London in 2010 have one foreign parent. It is when these couples split that messy custody battles, across different countries can take place
65 per cent of children born in London in 2010 have one foreign parent. It is when these couples split that messy custody battles, across different countries can take place
The leap comes despite the introduction by Tony Blair of child passports. Labour said that making every child have its own travel document would stop parents taking children abroad in defiance of court orders.
The figures emerged in a report by Lord Justice Thorpe, chief of the Office of the Head of International Family Justice. The body was set up in 2005 to try to ensure that courts in Britain and abroad work together when one parent flees with a child either from or to Britain.
The Appeal judge said: ‘Sixty-five per cent of children born in London in 2010 had a least one foreign parent. These figures illustrate the potential for significant future growth in international family litigation.’
He added: ‘The tendency of dangerous parents to bolt when social services are exercising legitimate protective powers is all too common.’
02 April 2012: ‘FAMILY COURT KILLED ME’
Cornwall Community News
Social workers and family lawyers are suspected of killing a South West father because he tried to stop them abducting his children
Gary Jenkins was found hanged in the second week of March.
He left a note saying he was driven to suicide by a secret family tribunal, in which social workers had stolen his children, and blackmailed him for the infants return.
The tribunal banned the supposedly ‘free press’ from reporting his case, their abuse of his children – and even finally their victims death.
But in a final desperate act of defiance the terrorised Dad used Facebook to make sure his friends and family in Devon and Cornwall knew what had happened.
Gary’s final Wall post reads: “Change your system so dads can have their 50/50 rights.”
“Fathers have no chance – I could never put my kid through what I went through.”
Shortly after leaving his explicit and clear political message, the tortured father was found dead by police.
The Conservative Party promised when elected to introduce fair and equal 50/50 parental rights for fathers.
But they lied, and depending on the outcome of an inquest, David Cameron may legally have Gary’s blood on his hands.
Friends of the victims said Mr Cameron was morally responsible to Gary’s children for the loss of their father.
Gary came from nearby Exeter but close friends in East Cornwall devastated by his loss told CCN of the tragedy after local papers lied that they “couldn’t run the story”.
Gary Jenkins was found hanged in the second week of March.
He left a note saying he was driven to suicide by a secret family tribunal, in which social workers had stolen his children, and blackmailed him for the infants return.
The tribunal banned the supposedly ‘free press’ from reporting his case, their abuse of his children – and even finally their victims death.
But in a final desperate act of defiance the terrorised Dad used Facebook to make sure his friends and family in Devon and Cornwall knew what had happened.
Gary’s final Wall post reads: “Change your system so dads can have their 50/50 rights.”
“Fathers have no chance – I could never put my kid through what I went through.”
Shortly after leaving his explicit and clear political message, the tortured father was found dead by police.
The Conservative Party promised when elected to introduce fair and equal 50/50 parental rights for fathers.
But they lied, and depending on the outcome of an inquest, David Cameron may legally have Gary’s blood on his hands.
Friends of the victims said Mr Cameron was morally responsible to Gary’s children for the loss of their father.
Gary came from nearby Exeter but close friends in East Cornwall devastated by his loss told CCN of the tragedy after local papers lied that they “couldn’t run the story”.
31 March 2012: “Wishes and feelings” – the new toolkit against fathers
In the UNCRC, ECRC, and Children Act 1989 the wishes and feelings of children are to be brought into consideration when making decisions in family law. Children are supposed to be able to contribute to proceedings involving them. The caveat in the Children Act 1989 is that their views are to be viewed in the light of their age and understanding. Ignorance of the true meaning of the caveat enables wishes and feelings to be a weapon routinely used to expunge fathers from the lives of their children. I believe it is the means intended to undermine any positive move forwards in family law modernisation and maintain the current levels of industry for family law professionals.
Wishes and feelings has become a battleground. The well-minded and relatively unexplored concept has the potential to develop into a science quickly placing the UK at the top of child development specialism in the world. The opportunity for expertly developing a structured set of procedures, backed by monitored principals, open to public observation and having the opportunity to critically analyse the expressions of thousands of troubled children interviewed under varying circumstances would yield massive benefits for society within a very short time.
If we could understand troubled childhood, we could improve it. Whatever the circumstance, wishes and feelings could be the answer.
However, as always appears to the case in the UK, we go for the cheap option. We undermine the genuine interests of children for profit elsewhere and justify it with good sounding - but specious - marketing slogans. Enter the fanfare called the “Wishes and Feelings” questionnaire/pack.
Instead of a scientifically-guided national program run by accountable experts, the UK produces a cheap and convenient questionnaire administered by unaccountable, hidden social workers and pseudo-social workers. According to the Parliamentary Ombudsman, Public Accounts Committee, Ofsted, and senior judiciary to name but a few, many of these operators are just about literate enough to read the pack themselves. Furthermore, not only are they administering the packs, they are interpreting what the children say. None of them have qualifications relating to empirical concepts in contemporary attachment theory, shared parenting or parental alienation. Somebody has deliberately left these cardinal pre-requisites off of the training menu.
Please read on by clicking the link below:
Wishes and feelings has become a battleground. The well-minded and relatively unexplored concept has the potential to develop into a science quickly placing the UK at the top of child development specialism in the world. The opportunity for expertly developing a structured set of procedures, backed by monitored principals, open to public observation and having the opportunity to critically analyse the expressions of thousands of troubled children interviewed under varying circumstances would yield massive benefits for society within a very short time.
If we could understand troubled childhood, we could improve it. Whatever the circumstance, wishes and feelings could be the answer.
However, as always appears to the case in the UK, we go for the cheap option. We undermine the genuine interests of children for profit elsewhere and justify it with good sounding - but specious - marketing slogans. Enter the fanfare called the “Wishes and Feelings” questionnaire/pack.
Instead of a scientifically-guided national program run by accountable experts, the UK produces a cheap and convenient questionnaire administered by unaccountable, hidden social workers and pseudo-social workers. According to the Parliamentary Ombudsman, Public Accounts Committee, Ofsted, and senior judiciary to name but a few, many of these operators are just about literate enough to read the pack themselves. Furthermore, not only are they administering the packs, they are interpreting what the children say. None of them have qualifications relating to empirical concepts in contemporary attachment theory, shared parenting or parental alienation. Somebody has deliberately left these cardinal pre-requisites off of the training menu.
Please read on by clicking the link below:
29 March 2012: The 'experts' who break up families:
The terrifying story of the prospective MP branded an unfit mother by experts who'd never met her - a nightmare shared by many other families
By Sue Reid - Mail
29 March 2012
A little over a year ago, Lucy Allan led what most people would regard as an eminently respectable life. The middle-class mother, a Tory councillor, was happily married to her stockbroker husband, Robin, and doted on their ten-year-old son, who loved going to school and was a passionate cricketer.
Indeed, such was Mrs Allan’s standing in the community that this accountant and former investment banker was on David Cameron’s A-list of potential MPs and a prospective Conservative candidate at the last election. She devoted her spare time to her council duties. Twice a month, she sat on the local fostering panel, which oversaw the removal of children from their parents and placed them with new families.
It was heart-rending work, as she recalls. ‘At each fostering meeting we were presented with horrifying cases of abusive parents, almost always depicted as “substance abusers”, mentally unstable or “unable to put the needs of their children over their own needs”.
‘Often, this portrayal was supported by an expert report from a psychiatrist, psychologist or medical doctor,’ says Lucy.
‘It never occurred to me, or any member of the panel, that the information we were presented with might be a distorted, twisted fiction — or that the reports were anything other than independent.’
Now, her view has changed. She suspects that many of the damning reports were written by experts who had never met the families in question, to suit the wishes of social workers under pressure from the Government to increase the number of children adopted.
As a result of this process, more and more children are being taken into state foster care.
So why has her faith in the system she once facilitated been shattered? Because, thanks to a bewildering chain of events, this eloquent, educated woman found herself under attack from social workers and fighting to stop her own son being taken into care.
Social workers took away our baby for nine months: With no evidence against them, couple were banned from looking after their son
Hers is a Kafkaesque story involving family experts who passed judgment on her fitness as a mother without, in some cases, even meeting her.
By Sue Reid - Mail
29 March 2012
Indeed, such was Mrs Allan’s standing in the community that this accountant and former investment banker was on David Cameron’s A-list of potential MPs and a prospective Conservative candidate at the last election. She devoted her spare time to her council duties. Twice a month, she sat on the local fostering panel, which oversaw the removal of children from their parents and placed them with new families.
It was heart-rending work, as she recalls. ‘At each fostering meeting we were presented with horrifying cases of abusive parents, almost always depicted as “substance abusers”, mentally unstable or “unable to put the needs of their children over their own needs”.
‘Often, this portrayal was supported by an expert report from a psychiatrist, psychologist or medical doctor,’ says Lucy.
‘It never occurred to me, or any member of the panel, that the information we were presented with might be a distorted, twisted fiction — or that the reports were anything other than independent.’
Now, her view has changed. She suspects that many of the damning reports were written by experts who had never met the families in question, to suit the wishes of social workers under pressure from the Government to increase the number of children adopted.
As a result of this process, more and more children are being taken into state foster care.
So why has her faith in the system she once facilitated been shattered? Because, thanks to a bewildering chain of events, this eloquent, educated woman found herself under attack from social workers and fighting to stop her own son being taken into care.
Social workers took away our baby for nine months: With no evidence against them, couple were banned from looking after their son
Hers is a Kafkaesque story involving family experts who passed judgment on her fitness as a mother without, in some cases, even meeting her.
