New bill on family courts due

New bill on family courts due
A family justice bill will open the family courts to the press, subject to strict rules about anonymity. It also proposes new ‘divorce’ rights for unmarried couples.
“It is of great concern that there is a lack of confidence in the family courts,” Ms Harman told a conference in central London yesterday, held to mark the end of a public consultation by the Department for Constitutional Affairs on opening the courts.

“Fathers complain of bias against them and failure to enforce contact orders. Mothers complain that the court orders them to give contact to dangerous fathers who threaten violence against both the mother and the child. And the courts are accused of taking children away from loving families and placing them for adoption. And at the same time the courts are accused of leaving children too long with parents who are a danger to them.

“It is impossible to defend a system from accusations of bias and discrimination if it operates behind closed doors,” she said.
Source:- The Guardian, Tuesday 31 October 2006, page 1

Expert witnesses shun the courts for fear of lawyers
The chief medical officer has proposed a total overhaul of the system for providing medical experts in family law cases  to improve quality.
Under the scheme, the NHS would be commissioned to provide experts, replacing individual arrangements between solicitors and doctors.
Source:- The Times, Tuesday 31 October 2006, page 29

White van man’s new job: finding missing children
A fleet of 450 white vans have been enlisted to track down some of Britain’s 100,000 missing children, by carrying posters of them.
They will carry a different poster every month in a campaign organised by the Metropolitan Police.
Source:- The Times, Tuesday 31 October 2006, page 27

Private healthcare sector’s performance no better than NHS
Paying for private medical treatment does not guarantee a safer or better quality of care than using the NHS, the health inspectorate said yesterday in its first analysis of the performance of the independent sector.
Source:- The Guardian, Tuesday 31 October 2006, page 9

Children at primary are given anger counselling
A primary school is employing a counsellor to help children as young as seven deal with their anger.
Glemsford Community Primary School in Suffolk said it had helped six children continue with their education and avoid exclusions.
Source:- The Daily Telegraph, Tuesday 31 October 2006, page 2

Schools told to promote integration of communities
Schools will be inspected against their efforts to promote integration between communities under plans agreed by peers yesterday.
The move has been agreed in order to defuse the row over faith schools.
Source:- The Independent, Tuesday, 31 October 2006, page 17

Scottish news
No social care news today.

Welsh news
No social care news today.