Family Rights Group was founded by social workers, lawyers and families in 1974 in response to the injustices experienced by many families involved with social services and the unnecessary separation of children from their families. We have had some significant successes over the last 37 years:
• Then local authorities could take away parental rights without going to court. Now they can't.
• Then parents were not included in their children's case conferences nor in reviews if their children were in care. Now partnership working is enshrined in legislation.
• Then grandparents had no legal means to seek contact with their grandchildren if they were in care. Now they do.
We have had a significant impact on the development of services to children and families. We were instrumental in influencing the preparation of the 1989 Children Act and associated guidance, which introduced the key principle of working in partnership with parents to secure the best interests of children.
These achievements are in large part due to us consistently bringing evidence of injustices to the attention of politicians, practitioners and the media, and putting forward workable solutions in the interest of the child.
As ever, Family Rights Group is continuing to campaign for further reforms to improve the lives of children and families including:
This section sets out in more detail our latest policy and campaign briefings and our response to consultations by Government and other agencies, and describes the reforms that we believe are necessary to improve our child welfare and family justice systems, policies and practices. They draw upon findings set out in our research publications.
Reform of family justice
• Our response to the Commission on a Bill of Rights Discussion Paper ‘Do we need a UK Bill of Rights?’, November 2011
Our response makes clear that the Human Rights Act has made a profound difference to families involved in the family justice system in England and Wales. It gives examples of how the Act has been relied upon in child welfare and legal proceedings to ensure fair process and to prevent unnecessary interference or an abuse of power by the state into the family life of vulnerable children and families. Our response illustrates how crucial it is for children and families that the Human Rights Act is retained.
• Our response to the Family Justice Review’s final report, November 2011
• Our submission to the Ministry of Justice review of legal aid, February 2011
• Our submission to the Family Justice Review on the reform of the family justice system, 2010
• Our report on the impact of the public law outline (the court protocol for managing care order applications) on family group conference services in England and Wales - summary and full report.
Drawn up by Family Rights Group in association with the University of Birmingham, funded by the Family Justice Council, November 2009
Reform of child welfare systems, policies and practices (including child protection and the care system)
• Our submission to the Munro review on child protection plus related information on a recent amendment to Dutch child protection law, April 2011
• Our submission to Lord Laming's review on safeguarding children, December 2008
Fathers and child welfare
Family and friends care – enabling children to live within their wider family
This includes reports and submissions drawn up by Family Right Group and by the Kinship Care Alliance, which is serviced by Family Rights Group
• Kinship Care Alliance briefing on the Welfare Reform Bill, House of Lords, 2nd Reading, and proposed amendments on conditionality and the benefit cap, September 2011
• Kinship Care Alliance submission to the Ministry of Justice review of legal aid, February 2011
• Submission to the Frank Field Poverty Review, drafted by Family Rights Group on behalf of the Kinship Care Alliance. A summary is also available, October 2010
• Family and Friends Care best practice guide for local authorities - summary and full report - Family Rights Group report funded by The Nuffield Foundation, March 2010
• Our submission to the House of Commons Work and Pensions Select Committee, May 2008
• Our submission to the House of Commons Children, Schools and Families Select Committee (plus appendix) Enquiry on Looked-after Children. Our submission focuses on the role of the state in supporting relatives raising children who cannot live with their parents, March 2008
