S Family law & social services need a root & branch over haul.

In my experience social services can & do lie to a court to ensure they get the outcome they want. The weight of evidence needed to remove children from their family is less than that of obtaining a criminal conviction, but the effects are far more devestating. There should be rules put in place so family law solicitors can not represent parents & local authorities as this compromises a solicitors ability to effectively represent a parent because they are constantly trying not to upset the local authority to ensure they continue to be employed by them.

Family courts need to be opened up to public scrutiny because many social workers rely on the veil of secrecy to bully parents. If a parent speaks out about it they can be sent to prison for revealing information about the case. There is little or no protection for accused parents, especially men. Social workers can use hearsay evidence & use their own paranoia not backed up with facts to persuade a court to remove children & there is nothing parents can do about it. Often inaccurate records are held by social services who refuse to amend them so when the case gets handed on to another social worker they are using the same misinformation against the parent.

There also needs to be rules on consistency put in place to prevent social workers from being persistently moved around to avoid responsibility when they screw up. My family endured 15 social workers in an 18 month period. It is especially important for struggling families to have a consistent worker working with them to build up trust so that the family can be helped, not just become another statistic to bump up the departments targets (the filfilling of which ensures government funding).