Real and present danger.............

This is not about the film of the same title, although Mrs Wilt drools after Harrison Ford. Wilt looks a little like him, although better looking. <Edit note: Mrs Wilt falls off desk chair in howls of laughter and files for divorce on the ground that Wilt is utterly mad>

Anyway........

Oh what a surprise, not: http://www.communitycare.co.uk/Articles/2010/06/30/114819/Family-Justice-Review-to-examine-role-of-Cafcass.htm

Of course Cafcass is going to be reviewed and it is not going to be a pleasant sight when the knife (or hatchet) blade comes in contact with flesh.

There has to be some kind of Children’s Guardian service but it does not need a Cafcass to run it – Courts or solicitors can do a better job, “cooperatives” (I hear Mrs Wilt shout – she also a Guardian) can also do the job, provided I argue there is some effective accountability professionally for independent Guardians i.e. they are supervised and are not let loose to run around and create havoc (and consequential costs) in the Family and County Court Family Divisions, as they had been hitherto.

The Ivory Towers of some Guardians, some of whom are a positive liability to the welfare of children, is a real and present danger. They utterly lack the skills necessary and are nothing less than armchair social workers who press the remote control buttons, thinking they are doing good – or worse in some cases knowing they are doing no good and simply claim the salary/fees/expenses for doing the minimum possible – and then suddenly realise “oh my Gawd I need to see the child and consult them.”

There are however excellent Guardians, very child focused and very driven to achieve the best for children – what they think is best and what Wilt may think is best may not always be agreed, but at least I respect their commitment and efforts, and indeed sometimes their superiority of argument over Wilt, who generally takes a very pragmatic approach. I have learned an awful lot from colleague Guardians of substance and merit, regrettably  have learned a lot more from Dorks who just happen to have the same title – but learned for the better.

What future then Guardians?

We could become very radical and vest the role back to the Probation Service, as it was pre-Children Act 1989. Perhaps not – these days that service has gone to the wall too!

Whatever, Wilt sees his income stream, in the UK at least, declining as Cafcass (indeed the whole Guardian service) and professional witness scheme feeling the Cameron et al effect on budget reductions. Hopefully it will be the precision of the surgeon’s blade rather than the butcher’s hatchet.

Wilt