Tap

At least one of the parties can see the wood for the trees as regards the state system in place for children and their parents.

The importance of families should be obvious, but apparently it isn’t to the old three establishment parties. Families are vital to the wellbeing of this country. In the light of the recent proposed legislation UKIP are making it clear that it is not good enough.

A member of the policy working group on Children and Families, Michael Curtis said: “The proposed new legislation does nothing to improve a system which is out of control and which has significantly contributed to the unnecessary splitting up of thousands of families throughout the UK.

“If anything, the proposals will devolve more responsibility to the Local Authorities and enable them and their officers to make more decisions outside of a Court framework and so remove the legal right to challenge them. Such actions may well reduce the pressure on the courts and save the Government money, but in a situation where there is evidence of bad decision making within the Local Authorities and by its officers, this can hardly be called a responsible move.”

UKIP admits that the challenge with any legislation where children and families are involved is to strike a right balance.  Where the successive governments have failed is in their understanding of the needs of changing society and the fact that more support services for parents and families are needed, like those which have just been proposed by the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) and the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) to help parents deal with children demonstrating repeated behavioural problems. Had this Government invested developing such support programmes earlier then it is probable that there would have been a significant drop in the number of cases where children are taken into care.

Whilst hidden, there is little doubt that the new Bill is part of the Government’s agenda to cut costs. Indeed it is a brave move for any Government to put the very basis of our society at risk just to save money, but this is clearly underlying the new proposed changes.

The current system certainly needs to change. With more and more Local Authorities failing and this set against more children entering a process which has been proven time and time again to be unfair, corrupt, biased and, more seriously, central government target driven, a drastic review, not new legislation is needed.

The Tap Blog is a collective of like-minded researchers and writers who’ve joined forces to distribute information and voice opinions avoided by the world’s media.