Filkin and Hodge: Playing Politics with Children of Divorce

- Green Paper on Family Court Reform a Sham -

It has been officially revealed that New Labour’s Green Paper on Family Court reform is a dud. Worse, it appears that Ministers announced reforms which they knew had already been scrapped.

In July 2004, a widely-anticipated Green Paper endorsed the following reforms:

1) a family court system designed to maintain “frequent and continuous contact” for children with both parents immediately after separation or divorce

2) default contact guidelines - along the lines of alternate weekends, half the holidays, and one overnight every midweek for non-resident parents

3) procedures for distinguishing “serious” family cases (ie., child endangerment issues, special needs, etc) from “normal” cases

These proposals were meant to be incorporated into the Family Resolutions Project, launched two weeks ago at Inner London Court, Wells Street (ph: 7255 1555). But as far back as October 2003, Whitehall civil servants had decided to pull them, and maintain the current system of misery.

The Ministers in charge - Lord Filkin and Margaret Hodge - were well aware that Whitehall apparatchik Bruce Clark was already subverting Green Paper promises even while they were being made.

It looks as though the Green Paper was announced simply to fob off mounting criticism and garner political capital.

Joe Farrell, Project Manager, has not been available for comment.

Journalists or concerned parents who would like investigate this situation further should ring:

Lord Filkin, MP Bruce Clark
Joe Farrell, Brian Kirby
Charles Clark

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