sharing your children-a deputy's perspective.

Yesterday was another diverse day sitting at the Principal Registry where I dealt with five cases which couldn't have been more different but all about contact with children for separated parents.
The most worrying was about a seven year old who "refused" to see dad though there was no objective evidence to show that this was based on anything other than messages received from her mother.
The Court had made a Family Assistance Order to involve Cafcass in reintroducing contact but Cafcass in their wisdom has allocated the case to a (presumably unqualified)"family support worker" who invited the mother to bring the child into her office but when the mother refused effectively abandoned the FAO and wrote to the Court asking for further Dircetions!
Cases like this need a firm grip by a skilled practitioner and this is one of the many areas where children are now totally failed by Cafcass, whilst Anthony Douglas continues his constant spinning of figures and news.
A second involved a child with extensive special needs where the parents were trying to get to grips with providing a consistent routine and diet in both homes but after a three way negotiating process we put together a communication package that has a good chance of working. That however took well over an hour which fortuitously I had available because another case had collapsed but most days at the PRFD it would be rare to find the extended timeslot that case needed.
It is impossible to understate the role that parents' representatives play in these scenarios. Early realistic child-focused advice can make or break the course that the long term arrangements between all family members can take and it has certainly been my experience that membership of Resolution (the old Solicitors' Family Law Association--a much better title!) is a good indicator of such an advisor.

porn producer may lead Gravesend!

So it's in the Sundays today that our prospective Lib Dem candidate is a former producer of porn films and the Sunday Times suggests that may not make her an appropriate MP.
I beg to differ---producing porn films is in my opinion very similar to representing Gravesend. It requires skills such as working with a very diverse audience with a wide range of different interests and backgrounds, understanding the needs of minorities in the community, recognising opportunities for presenting the same basic scenario in imaginative ways, and being responsive to "the man in the street" or down the alley!

a busy month!

February has been a great month for us, updating our website so that it is now informative and gives clients a good picture of us--it's a bit quirky but that probably reflects the firm well!
Our Children Handbook has been launched and we're all really proud of that and we're giving it out to as many clients as possible. If even one child has a better experience as a result of our advice, it will have been worth it.
The client library is up and running so clients can borrow books from us, not only on divorce and separation but some really good books for adults and children on bereavement and I hope that will prove a well-used facility.
Our new children law service is also running, to offer an affordable "dip in and out" option which can work well in Children matters.
I feel that we're now properly responding to the new needs that clients have and hope that word gets round quickly that we really are "a different sort of law firm"!