Degree Absolute!

Could Gloria Hunniford do for kids what
Joanna Lumley did for the Gurkha's?

Well I could just have the solution to all this;

Justice! There are two ways to stop the current malaise in society that separates children from the stability of family life and turning many into feral youths. who do not care about tomorrow and as a result fuels the flames that causes a 'Broken Britain!'

Firstly; when a couple separates instead of making for the family lawyer, they should in fact sit in front of a mediator who will assess the situation and generally offer 'both' parties £500 legal aid and a single court appearance, putting the onus on a couple to find a resolution to their difficulty and to agree to a contact and financial contract which is binding in law until the youngest child leaves full time education. This should then make 'both' parents equally responsible for child welfare and maintenance! Should either parent wish to take the matter back to court beyond this, they have to fund this themselves and this should focus their minds on getting it right first time and stop 'fee earning' solicitors exacerbating matter so they can bankrupt Dad, whilst plundering the legal aid purse indefinitely for Mum!

Secondly; No intervention by CAFCASS or other social services at this stage and once a timetable (that may be allowed to vary as the child grows) and finances have been agreed with a judge (not a court reporter) if he still has a concern then the judge should be empowered to contact the family GP and schools for a report on the health and well being of a child who would have a better understanding then a 'snap shot' taken by a social worker. This will then release the social service from a duty they are ill informed to pursue and normally results in them generating future work for themselves, when they should be reformed and working harder to prevent cases such as Baby'P', Victoria Climbe and Khyra Ishaq!
This should be regarded as law and the law is Parental Responsibility which should be enforceable with the prospect of a 6 month jail term minimal for 'either' parent if they break the terms of this contract for life! (Childhood is such a short span of time)
It would also be useful to inform a child at the age of 11 that both parents on the birth certificate are responsible for their children till the age of 18, it may then focus their mind as they entre the peer and social pressures of secondary education that under age sex could have a lasting effect on their lives, not only from a personal health stand point, but also the prospect of 16 to18 years of child care when they are at an age when they probably want to do something else.This should help them wait to become mature enough to take on such an undertaking. Also if a child was to commit a crime between the age of 10 and 16 with the current perceived immunity, their parents would face the court and be prosecuted for dereliction of duty under the care of their children with a fine or if serious enough prison.
The Tory party have also announced that they wish to make Grandparents and extended family the first port of call for child care rather then social services, who should be a last resort after the possibilities have been explored for a grandparents to take charge whilst a parent resolves their difficulties offering continuity and and stability at a fraught stage in a child's life something once again social services will never do so it is better they concentrate on more extreme cases as described recently by the director of Barnardos.
I really hope Gloria Hunniford, in her capacity as patron of the parents organisation, can encourage these bastions of commonsense and stability to consider the welfare of a grandchild , niece or nephew and in turn put right this God awful law that has blighted people for so long and in my view poses a greater risk to normal society then the threat of terrorism!

Saturday World (F4J) Review!

With the prospect of the forth coming protest at Canterbury Cathedral I have considered the role of Fathers 4 Justice and how effective their protests have been and what of the future?

I have made it clear that before I became embroiled in the family Law fiasco I thought the prospect of some guy dressed as a superhero firing fireworks off a crane near Tower Bridge gave off the wrong message and was this a responsible Dad to be demonstrating in such a way?
Sadly this is how the general public perceive such action as most have not endured the closed shop, secret and unaccountable family law court system where very often the father has little, if any, course of redress for major errors that take place every day. All eyes are on The New Supreme Court of appeal to see if they will offer justice where hitherto they have ignored an appeal by a father.
Better still there has to be a total reform of this destructive system which causes such heartache, has caused so many children to go into care and in addition to braking our societies could have such a bearing on cases such as Baby 'P', Khyra Ishaq and Victoria Climbe!

I offer a solution to all this in my Sunday blog see what you think!

In South Africa the government has called upon F4J to advise them on human rights issues I wonder what they have realized that it is sure to take the UK, US and Canadian Governments some years to understand! I am interested in the comment in 'your Canterbury' (left) by
Mark Henricks from Austin, Texas, USA "I am happy to see Fathers 4 Justice taking this direct protest action and wish them every success. United States fathers infrequently engage in public protests, preferring to work through other media, legal and legislative channels. However, the stakes are high enough that any means that helps propel positive change in this area is important and worth trying!". All the best from America, Mark Henricks

This is a stance that seems to be followed in Australia with Michael Knight and his crew at the forefront of many tricky court cases and standing up for rights many assume to be equal between men and women as it is in every other aspect of civilized society, well almost!
To see what the Canadian Contingent have to put up with click on title above and from what I can tell the law is at it's worse here, and the F4J protest is one of an impromptu flash demonstration. I believe a coordinated campaign where action is taken at the same time in London Washington Canberra Johannesburg and Ottawa along the same lines as the Movember campaign of a few weeks ago!


You Had Emily Pankhurst and her Suffragette movement at the turn of the last century, the hippies anti war and freedom movement in the sixties.........
......... could F4J be the social activists of modern times?
Count down to Sunday 29th November 2009,The Solution!

Judgement Day!

The Judge.
Once again a subject you would think would command in depth analysis, but no, it can be summed up very briefly as was the case with our Justice Minister!
What is the point of court orders that are not enforcable?
In fact I will start with Jack Straw's so called 'open court policy'which fell as a damp squib on impact because the judges claimed they would not have the time for the additional administration and claimed it would compromise the security of children involved in these sensitive cases!(Unlike criminal courts they seemed unable to say Child A Child B Family XYZ or put a reference number on a court order for press use!)
Nonsense! "In the child's best interest!" (click title for more)
Unlike criminal court, family courts operate in a shroud of secrecy so do not come under press or public scrutiny as their criminal colleagues,the idea for this was the protection of the child, but in reality it hides a far more sinister reason!
The phrase "In the child's best interest!" is banded about but as with all things Family Law it is 'smoke and mirrors' to protect the judge and the incompetence of the system they operate which results in erroneous judgements based on flawed testimony by CAFCASS (who along with the CSA should be disbanded) or court reporters from social services which are more often then not 'against the best interest of the child!' and often irreversible,(See Jenny's story in side bar) this leaves you wondering why there is a judge involved at all?
As a result these unaccountable judges guided by equally unaccountable court reporters are making failed judgments day in day out in the UK and around the world.It was never my intention to become a campaigner even though I was at the wrong end of such a judgment (or lack of judgement in enforcing it on an self interested mother, see failing judges in side bar left)
So I for one will not rest till this injustice is rectified and don't forget fathers
like me are the ones who stayed to do their best for their kids, did all the judge
asked to the point of ruin, and what was believed to be in the true best interest
of the children when the only ones to benefit are the so call 'fee earners'the
legal professionals whilst the judge and social workers who's incompetence are at the heart of our broken societies!

Count down to Sunday 29th November 2009,The Solution!

Fathers4Christmas to 'visit' Canterbury Cathedral !

A Father is for life not just Christmas,
birthdays+holidays+ treats+ Disneyland+pocket-money+ X-BOX +mobile phones+loss of dignity+ bankruptcy+ irregular access+ worthlessness+ desperation+ defined contact+ ill health+ loss+ alienation+ false promises+ hopelessness+fear+sleepless nights+ anticipated regret+ulcers+breakdown+suicide and generally having the piss taken out of us by this heartless and erroneous
Family Law Court System!

"A Father has a lifetime of worry and heartache for his children, but his love is so easily discarded like last years fashion. There is nothing in this for Dad except to see his child put a mortar board on their head, in the hope that child will do better in life then he!" Davey

A Fathers for Justice group will be demonstrating at Canterbury Cathedral as part of their campaign to change family law.

New Fathers for Justice are urging all dads who will not be able
to see their children this Christmas to join them at 10am on
Saturday, December 12th 2009 to support their campaign.
The group will be dressed in Santa costumes to put pressure on
the church to help them “put the father back into Christmas”.

A spokesman for the group said: “New Fathers for Justice will
yet again attempt to get our message across to the church which, like this arrogant Labour government, had ignored the plight of fathers since they have been in office.

“We are urging the church to support us in our fight to change family law and plug dads back into families in time for Christmas.
(See my 'Lost Faith blog in archive.)

“We see this as a great necessity as we are now potentially only six months away from the general election. We hope that the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams will help us with the plight of dads in Britain this Christmas.”

The group has urged dads to come along with banners and wearing Father Christmas outfits.

Campaigners from father’s rights groups have made a name for themselves using direct action campaigning methods to fight for better rights for fathers who want to see their children. (As ever click on title for more on this)
If their message had been listened to in
the past 5 or 10 years maybe
BABY PETER
Victoria Climbe and Khyra Ishaq
would still be alive today,Davey

Let's put Father back into Christmas!

Focus on Canada!

My Guest contributor from Canada is my associate Outdoors who has kept me informed of any progress in our cause from the country I have identified as having the hardest time with injustice and prejudice in Family Law and Child Welfare! To illustrate the point the first item here he ponders;
"The CBC spins the news story to make it appear as if this is discrimination based on gender, but it's actually a case where the women of the ski jumping team don't meet the minimum requirements."
Read the whole story by clicking on the title above and you decide! The next item poses a more serious quetion;
A new website hopes to help children prepare to testify in court.(click on this picture on the side bar left)
A new website funded by the Alberta government aims to help abused children prepare for the ordeal of testifying in court.
The Child Witness Court Preparation site, at www.childcourtprep.com, can be accessed by children from all over the world and takes them through what they can expect with the help of interactive games, audio recordings and a video tour of a courtroom.
Lynn Barry, a former social worker and the founder of the Canadian Society for the Investigation of Child Abuse, said her group received so many requests to work with children scheduled for court that it was impossible to meet the demand.
"Then an epiphany happened," Barry said from Calgary. "We realized through an interactive website we could make our services available to children at no cost. Kids these days are text-based and internet savvy."
'The last thing we want to do is re-traumatize, so if they know what to expect they'll be fine and ready.'
— Lynn Barry, Canadian Society for the Investigation of Child AbuseChildren and teens can be terrified at having to see the accused abuser in court, Barry said.
"The last thing we want to do is re-traumatize, so if they know what to expect they'll be fine and ready. If their story can get out then justice is served."
The website, which will be officially launched in Calgary on Thursday, gives tips to help kids stay calm, such as deep breathing or focusing on a point on a courtroom wall.
Participants never talk specifically about what happened to them, but they can join one-hour sessions with Barry and other kids so they know they're not alone, she said.
The website is funded by the Alberta Solicitor General and Public Security Ministry, victims programs, the Bank of Montreal Employees Charitable Foundation, the Calgary Foundation and the Imperial Order Daughters of the Empire.
I am grateful to Amfortas for drawing my attention to Jeremy Swanson's comments in Canada: "Oh yeah? They are telling us this now? As if no-one knows? Have we not known this all along in the USA, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, India, South Africa, Europe and the rest of the "west" ? We have known this for years ! And did we not try to tell the media and the politicians how much damage was being done? And now here they are announcing what we all know in a new "study" and a "poll". Good heavens we provided them with concrete evidence. Real life case histories. For Years ! Was no-one listening? Are they still not listening to us? How many of the Fathers on these lists could provide personal witness, evidence and testimony to any "study" wherever it is in the world? And its the *British Media which reveals this to us in North America? Where is OUR own media? Where are OUR politicians? Where are OUR studies? Well we have those alright (ask Dr Ed Kruk for a start) but no-one pays any attention when they come out."JS
Davey says; The *British media least of all the BBC have nothing to crow about, none of them take this issue as seriously as they should!!
Iain Duncan Smith
He said the family court system was 'a mess' with fathers too often shut out!"
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/relationships/divorce/6575997/Third-of-family-break-up-children-lose-contact-with-fathers-in-failing-court-system-poll.html
This article refers to the same thing as The Sun Reported in their editorial I highlighted to your left in sidebar "We don't ever see Daddy anymore." Davey say's amen!

A Man of Straw? My shortest Blog!

The Rt. Hon Jack Straw MP and Lord Chancellor, took over from Lord Falconer as Justice Minister.
He is noted for doing just one thing towards the reform of the Family Law Court system as notified to me by Camilla Cavendish of The Times back in April 09 following her conference at the Houses of Parliament with John Hemming MP. and several other noted journalists! This is one more thing then his predecessor ever did and that was to 'Open Family Court' for press and public scrutiny but this fell like a damp squib and to illustrate this click on the word Straw on the heading to hear theToday Programme speak to the Minister for just 2 minuets on this and 4 on prisons in a 6 minuet interview!
(John Hemming M.P and Camilla Cavendish, do they know the answer?)

When will the State and it's propaganda machine ever take this matter seriously?
Countdown to the 'Solution' see blog on 29/11/09

Ed Balls: is he Minister enough?

Click title above.














Let me also refer you to my Education Education Education in blog archive.Davey
The Department for Children Schools and Families is a colossal one and would be a handful for any minister if Children, Schools or Families were 3 separate departments and not only is Mr Balls over all in charge of what happens in schools he is also responsible for social services with OFSTED somewhere in between!
For the benefit of this blog I will divide this department into 2 halves;
Schools:
I have to admit that I find myself in agreement with some of what Ed Balls is saying to Jon Snow in the video (click above), children should be assessed at the age of 11 or year 7 so they are not just thrown to the wolves in secondary education.
I speak from experience as when I attended a school reunion 10 years ago, I asked a former classmate why was it whenever we were out of line we were threatened with expulsion (rather then an alternative)? His answer was telling, as he said as we were in the bottom class there was nowhere else to go! So whatever you arrive with when you get to the summer holiday before moving up to secondary school, maps your life there after, as you stand little or no chance of substantial advancement unless you are a gifted child, which poor results shown previously prove you are not !
Many children end up on the scrap heap before they start and along with the school not able to offer discipline any longer allows some children in the grey area of law from 11 to 16 to just about do as they please, and end up feral teenagers on the streets (a subject that will be extensively covered in forthcoming blogs)
I would also ask what of OFSTED? Are they offering correct and substantial reports that are beneficial to parents seeking placements for their children? Are some erroneous headteachers pulling the wool over many inspectors eyes so they keep their, not always deserved, high accreditation and resulting funding in place? Parents are then fighting for places, often finding themselves braking the law to get their child in a school as they are lead to believe it is better then the next one 3 miles down the road. With the additional bearing of house prices close to a 'better' school!
Is it not incumbent on the education authority that a minimum standard is achieved at ALL schools so this disparity is reduced and rather then credit schools that excel beyond the reach of many children offer similar chances to other nearby schools and even share resources!
Who actually oversees the activities at OFSTED?
Social Services:
Keeping with OFSTED on this one too, did you know that this self regulating body gave Haringay Council a clean bill of health the week Baby 'P' (Peter) was killed then had to scurry back some weeks later to produce a damming report on the same council. How was this possible what did OFSTED see some weeks earlier which could change so very quickly or moreover what did they not see? I believe there should be a whistle blowers amnesty (see my blog of a few days ago titled Grandparents4Justice4Baby'P' on this)
This problem is not confined to Haringay and as my blog in the Birmingham Sunday Mercury reveals there are problems in the Midlands and the question posed was, is Birmingham Council the worse in the country? Then up came Darlington then Cornwall..etc so no it is not confined to a single council it is endemic throughout the land and a tragedy as happened in these councils could happen elsewhere at anytime, and what of Ed Balls reform in the wake of Baby'P', Victoria Climbe and Khyra Ishaq he promised?
Well this has consisted of throwing millions (£830,000 in the case of my local council) of pounds at the problem and all he has asked in return is for them to recruit more social workers! More into an already failing system? Why not fewer and better ones into a reformed Social Services and also why not pull ill equipped court reporters out of the family law court system where all they achieve is to generate future business for themselves from the families they break up! They could concentrate their efforts in preventing more Baby 'P' tragedies even if it means going against the 'book' on occasion or having the courage to speak out when they clearly see there is something wrong, and managers should be able to respond to this with robust support rather then threats of dismissal if they go against council guidelines. Do you not dive in to save a drowning child's life or sit on the sidelines because it tells you to in you handbook? I wish there were more Nevres Kemals and they should be revered not made to flee for their own safety!
I would also ask why does a child such as 'Jenny' end up in irreversible care just because a neighbour complains that a dog is barking in her families kennels suggesting cruelty, even though the case was not up held ( Jenny's story can be seen in the side bar to your left) This industry is in need of root and branch reform, but is Ed Balls Minister enough to do it?
The opposition. Rt Hon Micheal Gove MP.
At a time of the worst Government in living memory we also have the weakest opposition in the form of the Conservative Party who rather then offer some substantive policy or guidance on how schools should be run, such as less bureaucracy more identification of stragglers so they can be brought up to speed (Both poor teachers and pupils),regular in class reviews,and what I have described as a preparation year at age 11, for pupils to be given socially accepted communication skills, sex, drugs, and rock and Roll education and awareness of peer and media pressure in readiness of what is to come!
Instead we see Gove and Balls squabbling like kids in a playground over peripheral issues rather then the crux of the matter.The wife.
The appointment of Yvette Cooper to the Department for Work and Pensions to succeed James Purnell means an uber-Blairite is replaced with an arch-Brownite.
I would imagine the breakfast time conversation in their household would go something like " I wonder how many people's lives (esp children) we can screw up today!" The CSA that falls under Mrs. Balls DWP remit should, along with CAFCASS, Blairs 10 years old failed brain-child, should simply be disbanded as both departments serve the vengeful mothers and feckless Dads whilst penalising the good parents both Mums and Dads!! Davey
Yvette Cooper and her ridiculously named husband Ed Balls must be jumping for joy this evening, for MPs have voted to keep their current expenses system in place. Why don’t we let criminals vote on whether or not burglary should have a prison sentence next time?MPs have voted against thorough audits of their expenses, voted against banning claims for improvements to their furnishing and against not having to show receipts for expenses under £25.This is the system that has allowed CooBalls to state their Yorkshire residence as their main home, while they school their children in London, in order to have parliament pay off their Westminster residence’s mortgage – AND furnish the pad to boot.Furthermore, a reliable Labour Party source informs me that one MP is employing his mother on a salary of £25,000 for basic tea making duties in his office. But not to worry, because this sort of practice is common place and as of this evening democratically voted back in.
A spell based in Arkansas helping out on Bill Clinton's presidential campaign in 1992 saw her launched on a political career and she joined first Harriet Harman and then Mr Brown as an adviser.
The alternative?
This is the guy I believe is best placed to reform the Department currently the responsibility of Ed Balls (Just wish it was under a Farage leadership, Davey view) he has a raft of experience on this subject so would bring a wider range of pragmatic experience to what I believe is the most crucial of all the domestic Government departments (I would not object to Camilla Cavendish being an advisor)