Press release
‘Grandparents Apart Wales’ a group that is dedicated to the welfare of children being reunited with their grandparents is to be silenced or else. The group have been reporting on a case about social services having failed yet again and have received a letter from a head of children’s services telling them to remove the story or face legal proceedings.
They campaign for grandparents via the Charter for Grandchildren to be first in line to care for children when they need to go into care. We all know that the biggest percentage of children that go through the care system are well known to be non-achievers lacking in self esteem, crying out for what they were robbed of as a child and are more than likely to seek comfort in the many gangs that are growing ever faster in our cities.
The audacity of this letter comes at a time when social services are being condemned UK wide by TV and the media for their reported failures regarding the recent fatalities and lack of care of our children.
What a bloody cheek.
Jimmy Deuchars
Grandparents Apart UK
22 Alness crescent
Glasgow G52 1PJ
0141 882 5658
http://www.grandparentsapart.co.uk
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"serious concerns" about Cafcass's work.
Postby chick on Wed Jul 28, 2010 1:22 am
28 July 2010 12:13am
The organisation that looks after the interests of vulnerable children in family court proceedings has been criticised for the way it responded to the rise in demand for its services in the wake of the Baby Peter tragedy.
The National Audit Office (NAO) said although the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass) could not have predicted the sustained increase in demand, it would have responded better if it had tackled known organisational faults.
The result was delays in appointing advisers for court proceedings, as councils took a more cautious approach to child protection and became involved in more care proceedings. In hundreds of cases, proceedings went ahead without an adviser.
Baby Peter died on August 3, 2007 after sustaining multiple injuries over many months despite being known to Haringey Council, which was heavily criticised for its actions.
Chairwoman of the Commons Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Margaret Hodge said the NAO report raises "serious concerns" about Cafcass's work. The NAO said Cafcass, which operates only in English courts, had to deal with an extra 200 new care cases a month from November 2008 - an increase of 40%.
The report said that at the same time, courts needed advice on hundreds more children involved in family breakdowns. As a result, the allocation of court advisers to children's cases slowed down so that between November 2008 and July 2009 the number of children involved in family court proceedings without the adviser they were supposed to have grew from 250 to 1,250.
Amyas Morse, head of the NAO, said: "Cafcass's ability to respond to the surge in demand for its services was limited by the known problems within the organisation which, had management made more and faster progress in dealing with them, could have reduced the negative effect of the rise in demand.
"Cafcass's transformation programme brings together plans for major organisational improvements and offers the opportunity to improve its capacity and responsiveness to future fluctuations in demand. However, the programme needs further work if Cafcass is to rise to the enormous challenge it still faces and improve how it serves vulnerable children and families."
Ms Hodge said: "The NAO report raises serious concerns about the way in which Cafcass meets the needs of vulnerable children. My committee will take evidence on this report in September and I will want to understand why, some seven years after it was formed, the organisation lacked the managerial competence to deliver an effective service.
Another member of the PAC, South Norfolk Tory MP Richard Bacon, said: "Cafcass is now undertaking a major transformation programme costing £10 million but the service still faces enormous challenges. The number of open care cases is steadily building and it is not yet clear that the programme will boost the morale of Cafcass's staff and improve the way they work together."
chick
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Joined: Wed Jan 27, 2010 1:56 pm
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Re: "serious concerns" about Cafcass's work.
Postby chick on Wed Jul 28, 2010 2:18 am