Geraldine Morris on the isolation of children in family proceedings
Family life is not straightforward, most of all for children whose families live in more than one home who may have siblings or half siblings from multiple relationships.
The 2007 report by the NSPCC Your Shout Too! surveyed children involved in Children Act 1989 proceedings. The children who took part in the survey (in collaboration with the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service) were aged between 11 and 18 and 90% had a sibling or half sibling.
The survey findings highlighted the following:
- ● Only 7.5% of the children attended court.
- ● Of those who did not attend court, 40% would have liked to and to have had the opportunity to speak to the judge.
- ● 16% of the children said they did not see a sibling or half sibling who lived elsewhere as often as they would like and that this was a significant source of sadness, anxiety and/or frustration.
There has been significant focus of late on the separate representation of children
