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The
current waiting lists for Guardians which now occur all over the
country for the first time, are a direct legacy of Ms Shepherd’s
misguided leadership, which has resulted in the family
courts losing many of their longest serving and most
experienced self employed Guardians. NAGALRO successfully
challenged CAFCASS’ decision to disallow self-employment through
Judicial Review proceedings in September 2001 but the damage was
done.
The
culture of employment initiated during Ms Shepherd’s brief
tenure has permeated the organisation to the extent that many self
employed Guardians are now devoting their efforts to other child
welfare tasks, depleting the service, which lurches further into
crisis each week. Employees
working to stricter time restraints, many with less experience,
are struggling to keep up. The
use of agency staff at greater cost will not solve the problem.
CAFCASS
needs to focus all its efforts on providing a flexible and
professionally respected service to vulnerable children which is
its core function.
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