Written evidence submitted by Dr A K Darwish,
Consultant Child Psychiatrist, Brynffynnon Child and Family Service
(CAF 51)
I should like to raise the following points:
1. One main element in promoting the welfare
of the child is the speed of the proceedings.
2. To improve the services offered to the
Family Courts, the country is suffering with the instability of
the local authority's services; in particular the social workers
are not trained enough, not supported enough, not possible to
retain in their posts. I believe part of the increase in the workload
of the Courts is the lack of support for the children and the
families when their needs start to be identified.
3. To improve the efficacy I believe a kind
of resolution and reconciliation need to be improved. The service
as it is, is not able to work on resolving the problem before
it comes to Court or in the process of coming to Court the reconciliation
between the disputing factions and split families or between the
local authority and the family is not well conducted at present.
4. To improve the services offered to the
families and other keystake holders; there needs to be emphasis
on prevention and reconciliation. The emphasis on litigation is
not positive.
5. To develop the skills of the staff a
training programme needs to be reviewed with a view to working
and offering support to the children and family in need.
6. The Government's agenda should focus
on defining children in need and monitoring the input of different
agencies to support the children and family.
Dr A K Darwish
Consultant Child Psychiatrist
March 2003
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