People in London are in favour of better financial and practical help for grandparents raising children because their parents can’t look after them, according to a new poll commissioned by charities Grandparents Plus, the Family and Parenting Institute and Family Lives.
A care proceedings pilot launched between three London councils in April is already proving it is possible to dramatically speed up the majority of children’s care cases, including adoption, to hit the government’s target of six months.
Children from the UK will now have international protection if they move to another country outside the European Union.
The Court of Appeal has ruled that the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission (CMEC) cannot threaten two men with imprisonment if they continue to fail to pay child maintenance arrears, reports the Telegraph.
The Economic and Social Research Council has reported on recent research that suggests children's parties or activity days, where prospective adopters meet children awaiting adoption, could be part of the solution to the current adoption crisis.
A service manager at the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), John Mellor, has reported seeing an increase in the number of international child custody cases involving British couples abroad, reports the Guardian.
The Office for National Statistics has recently published a statistical release showing that there were 723,913 live births in England and Wales in 2011, increasing slightly (by 0.1%) from 723,165 in 2010.
The European Court of Human Rights has rejected a claim that the Official Solicitor’s decision to place a woman’s child into care, and subsequently for adoption, was in breach of the woman’s human rights.
The British Association of Social Workers (BASW) has commented on recent claims that families who move to England from Slovakia and Russia are being unfairly targeted to satisfy demand from prospective British adopters.
Adoption UK has commented on the recent release by the Department of Education of statistics relating to children in care.
Barnardo's has issued a statement welcoming the announcement that the Government is to consult over changes to fostering and adoption procedures.
The Law Commission has published a supplementary consultation paper as part of its project examining a number of different aspects of the law relating to the financial consequences of divorce and of the dissolution of civil partnership.
A recent study from Portugal has found that men are more likely to divorce because of a lack of love, whereas women find lack of communication to be a greater cause of marital breakdown, reports the Portugal News. Other reasons given included infidelity and domestic violence.
The Government has published draft legislation to implement its proposed changes to the family justice system following David Norgrove’s Family Justice Review.
The Russian Federation and Lesotho have deposited their instruments of accession to the 1996 Hague Convention on Jurisdiction, Applicable Law, Recognition, Enforcement and Co-operation in Respect of Parental Responsibility and Measures for the Protection of Children.
A research study in America has found that couples that have gone through a bitter divorce don't always continue to retain the same level of hostility to each other.
The educational attainment of looked after children and young people is improving slowly but there is too much variation in attainment, inconsistent support and a lack of clearly defined outcomes against which progress can be assessed. These are the findings of a report published by the Auditor General for Wales.
Four sisters caught up in an international custody dispute have been allowed to remain with their mother in Australia for a further month after a Family Court judge agreed to another hearing, reports the Brisbane Times.
The High Court has ruled that social workers were wrong to obtain consent from a woman to take her new-born baby into care when she was still under the affects of drugs administered during a difficult birth, reports the Daily Mail.
Recent research from the National Center for Family and Marriage Research (NCFMR) at Bowling Green State University has found that an increasing number of adults age 50 and over are choosing to live with their partner instead of marrying them.