As per this conference, here is a super quick run down on some of the key reforms necessary to make the family courts system fairer for everyone. It's not about "opening the family courts" - it's about campaigning for the following:

1. Allow trial by jury. The decision to remove a baby or child from a family should not be within the complete jurisdiction of a single individual (the judge).
2. Remove the gag. If parents and/or children want to exercise freedom of speech to speak out about their experiences and circumstances, they should not be threatened with imprisonment for doing so, especially under the guise of protecting their privacy.
   
3. Abolish the removal of children because of perceived risk. Children should only be removed if a crime has been commited that affects them (in strictly defined circumstances).
4. Abolish the removal of children because of perceived emotional abuse. Children should only be removed if a crime has been committed that affects them (in strictly defined circumstances).
5. Disallow hearsay evidence in court. In addition, witnesses should not be allowed to speculate.
6. Allow Mckenzie friends to advocate on behalf of others, especially where they have been refused or are not entitled to legal aid. Far rather a McKenzie friend than a professional loser!
7. Abolish the censoring of contact visits. Parents should be allowed to tell their children they love them, they miss them, and that they are fighting to keep them.
8. Abolish forced adoption (in line with the rest of Europe) if a parent opposes an adoption in court.

More detailed information about the reforms and why they are necessary can be found on Ian Josephs' website, on John Hemming's website and on the Justice for Families website. Please read them as this post is really only a brief reflection of what was discussed on the day and I've chosen not to regurgitate information that can be readily accessed elsewhere.

Finally, what can you do next?

Well, the most important thing is to protect yourself. After this case, it seems to me that - although families should always be free to avoid engaging with whatever if they so choose - most people would benefit from embedding themselves in strong local networks of some description or other. To avoid doing so increases the general level of vulnerability with regard to unnecessary state intervention, as discussed here. It also makes generating sustained help much harder, should the worse happen and you find yourself needing to rely on others. Just a thought.

The internet remains a fantastic way of sharing information and building communities of support and expertise. It's also useful for locating like-minded and helpful people in your local areas who you otherwise might not realise exist. Connecting with people online is supremely flexible, and it's also a lot quicker than having to rely on phonecalls and meetings to achieve complex tasks in a hurry. It can't replace all the benefits of face-to-face relationships - but it might just start them off and help them to flourish.

Once you've done all of that, I suggest you find your own ways of connecting with and helping other people within your sphere of influence, through a medium that you feel comfortable with. If we all did that and freely offered voluntarily accessed channels of support and resources to those who were genuinely in need, then the non-negotiable, government support we're given - whether we want it or not - would soon disappear.

We raised the money we needed in less than two days.

Just to say thank you to those generous people who donated. It's a privilege to know you.

Lisa

People in the HE community may be aware of a family from Wolverhampton who have been forced to leave the country because of threats made by their local authority to remove their children. These threats appear to have originated simply because of the family's choice to home educate, and the fact that their son has an underlying medical condition (which is being dealt with by them and their son's specialist in a perfectly responsible manner). 

This family are now in Ireland and, not wanting to impose on anyone any further, have been camping for the past couple of weeks. Their funds are very low. Irish social services have investigated their paperwork and seem to think that the allegations against them are entirely without substance. 

The family has a case review tomorrow before the care order is lifted and it will be very much in their interests to have decent accommodation to hand. Over the weekend attempts have been made to generate a deposit for them (approximately £800 or $1,150) and we have raised half of the money required from people who many of you will know. We just need the rest! That's £400 or $575. Someone has very kindly offered to put up the full amount in advance to help the family, but it would be great if we could pay her back as quickly as possible. It's not fair that one person is burdened in such a way because of their generosity.

Please, please will you give whatever you can? Comments are closed for this post but if you drop me an email at lisa@renegadeparent.net we can make arrangements directly. It's looking like paypal payments/cheques are the best option for people. If offers exceed the amount required then I'll reduce the amounts pledged accordingly.

Readers have offered to dontate to me directly in the past and I've always refused - but if any of you are willing to give money to this poor family, you would be doing an amazing thing.

Thanks for reading and I hope that you can help.

Lisa