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NAGALRO Spring Conference on 6 October 2008 in Central London

"DIVERSITY IN THE FAMILY COURTS

 

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Twenty years on from the Children Act – is it still fit for purpose?  The PLO and rewriting of Volume 1 Guidance on the Children Act are changing the care proceedings landscape.  This conference will explore the impact of these recent changes on the ability of social care and legal professionals to safeguard the welfare of children effectively.  There will be speakers from judicial, legal, local authority and academic perspectives.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Speakers:

·         Bridget Keane, C & YP Overview Scrutiny Committee, Manchester City Council

·         Alistair MacDonald, Barrister St Philips Chambers and Joint Chair ALC

·         Judith Masson, Professor of Socio-Legal Studies, University of Bristol

·         Judith Timms, Independent Consultant and Honorary research fellow attached to the Centre for the Study of the Child, the Family and the Law, University of Liverpool

 

Conference Chair:  His Honour Judge Jeremy Richards, South East Circuit

 

The conference will be of interest to academics, barristers, solicitors, social workers, family court reporters, guardians, family mediators, judges, administrators, magistrates and researchers in social policy.  It  will attract 6 hours CPD Credit from the Law Society. 

Further details available from:   

NAGALRO, PO Box 264, Esher, Surrey, KT10 OWA

Tel No: 01372 818504, Fax No: 01372 818505, email: nagalro@globalnet.co.uk

Recent NAGALRO Conferences

  • NAGALRO Spring 2007 Conference: THE FUTURE OF CHILDREN'S REPRESENTATION: - Tandem to Unicycle?
  • NAGALRO Autumn 2006 Conference:  "Contact for Children - Making Decisions in Family Proceedings’

Resolutions passed at the AGM which took place before the conference:

NAGALRO is very concerned about the potential impact on the children whom our members serve.  At the AGM the following resolutions were passed unanimously:

  1. This AGM of NAGALRO deplores the Government’s continuing significant delay in fully implementing S122 of the Adoption and Children Act 2002 which provides for s8 applications to be specified proceedings under the Children Act 1989. This delay is alarming because it continues the Government’s disappointing record with respect to real improvement in children’s rights.  In this instance, the Government’s delay in guaranteeing to children and young people the right to separate representation in Family Proceedings, despite the Government’s assurances to the contrary, fundamentally compromises the likelihood in every case of the best outcome being achieved for children at the most critical point when life-shaping decisions are being made about them.

2.         This AGM of NAGALRO rejects the idea that ‘Every Day Matters’ is a professional strategy.  This AGM recommends that ‘Every Day Matters’ should be recognised as an attempt by senior CAFCASS managers to meet rising demand and provide more services without any increase in the budget.  Practitioners will only have confidence in CAFCASS’ objectives when it makes a commitment to sustaining and improving the quality of the service to the children for whom it is appointed to act.

  1. This AGM notes the fact that CAFCASS has a standstill budget for 2006/2007 and recognises that this will have an impact on its work. It calls upon CAFCASS to ensure that the service to children in family proceedings is given top priority and to protect them from the impact of budget reductions.   The savings need to take place in management costs, strategy provision and overheads.

  2. This AGM calls on CAFCASS to commit itself to maintaining and raising the quality of the professional work carried out by its practitioners. It asks CAFCASS as a matter of urgency to work with its professional organisations to:

a) identify and agree the standards of work that should be met by its Family Court Advisors
b) produce best practice guidelines
c) provide the necessary training to achieve these standards as a matter of priority
d) maintain the professional independence and integrity of its practitioners
  • NAGALRO Autumn 2005 Conference:  Children at Risk from their Families:  Assessing the Risk, Weighing the Evidence.

·         NAGALRO Spring 2004 Conference: “ RISKY BUSINESS:  Prevention and Advocacy in Child Protection
-  Child Death Enquiries:  Bureacracy meets the practitioners. Paper by Carol Edwards