Family law in Wales and England has recently been a cause for concern. New research carried out by Barnardo’s the children’s charity has discovered that in some instances the courts have taken 14 months to resolve cases involving the care of children. The new regulations involving legal aid are also set to leave some areas of the country without expert knowledge leaving the area of family law even more strained. A series of high profile cases such as the Baby P case have caused confidence in the system to falter. The previous head of family justice, Sir Mark Potter has said that the current system leaves children “exposed to violence and high emotion … bound to give rise to problems in later life”.
All cases that reach the Family Court are stressful and often upsetting but the people who tend to suffer the most through it all are the children involved in the cases. In 1989 The Children’s Act was compiled in order to attempt to make sure that all children involved in Family Court cases are treated sensitively and given the utmost consideration where their cases are concerned. A maximum case length of 12 weeks is also set out in the Act. The Act also introduced the original legal aid rules.
The study carried out by Barnardo’s also proves that the courts are now falling more short of public expectation than ever. The current system seems completely alien compared to that which was set out under the 1989 Children’s Act. It is now commonplace for cases to last anywhere up to sixty five weeks. The problems with the current system are becoming worse and there are 50% more cases left incomplete this year than there was last year. The investigation also showed that the longer a case takes to resolve the more likely it will be that the children will suffer. Often they will be passed between foster parents whilst the outcome of the case is decided.
Barnardo’s have now begun campaigning to attempt to get the start to finish time of cases to a maximum of thirty weeks. This would be a massive improvement to the system we currently have.
Family law solicitors Manchester Hague Lambert can help with all Family Law matters. A Family law solicitor Manchester can help you move your case along swiftly.
August 14, 2010 by Clare Westwood