Dear Supporters

On Thursday 25thJune 2020 the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) released a damning report following the 2019 Family Law Review Panel about the functioning of Family Courts in private law cases where domestic abuse is alleged. It was later followed by the publication of an implementation plan for sweeping reforms of the system.

The good news is that the voices of survivors and their families who have suffered at the hands of the family court have finally been heard. There is no doubt that the support you have shown to this petition by signing, contributing comments, and sharing your experiences as authentic voices has helped immensely.

We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your unwavering support.

We greet this major milestone more with a sense of relief than victory. We know that it does not help anyone who is suffering here, now, today and there is still so much more to do. There is a lot of information in these documents that we are still processing ourselves and of course it all needs to be implemented, which we know takes time.

There are three key documents  that are available through this link: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/assessing-risk-of-harm-to-children-and-parents-in-private-law-children-cases

The implementation plan 19 pages What immediately jumps out is that the implementation plan will be overseen by the Family Justice Board, a list of members can be viewed via this link: https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/family-justice-board#membership

Here is a link to the Cafcass response to the review findings: https://twitter.com/MyCafcass/status/1276082623224393728?s=20

This raises questions and concern over commitment of the Cafcass management to fully embrace the need for reform of the culture and practice of the organisation.   

Final Report 216 pages of damning systemic failings through-out the system. Recommendations can be found in section 11 from page 171 

A Literature Review  171 Pages  Conclusions page 122 https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/895175/domestic-abuse-private-law-children-cases-literature-review.pdf

Initial feedback from domestic abuse survivors:

The survivor led campaign #thecourtsaid have issued their initial response to the review and that can be found here: https://online.fliphtml5.com/gmiyh/loea/#p=2

They are now calling for recompense for survivors and have started this petition: https://www.change.org/p/boris-johnson-justice-for-victims-of-the-family-court-domestic-abuse-crisis

The Domestic Abuse Bill is still making its way through the parliamentary legislative process.  We are continually looking at how best to contribute to that process, be it lobbying, writing to MPs or submitting evidence at various stages of the process, we will keep you posted about what you can do to help.

After two years we have reached this major milestone, but please continue to promote and share this petition, there is still such a long way to go and we need your continued support.

Much Love

Rachel & Teresa xx