Grandparents Apart Wales Blog April 2014

FNF BPM meetings continue in Llandudno

15-Apr-2014

FNF BPM (Families Need Fathers Both Parents Matter) meetings are proving a great success and it is hoped that those who attend and have themselves experienced alienation from their children or grandchildren will become volunteers and give people the support needed to help them understand their situation.

We are able to give free legal advice from Ian Smith of PAPA, Liverpool and have also been joined by a law graduate. So the signs are very encouraging. and I thank all those who, last night contributed to what was a very good meeting.

To those of you who practice Family Law it became apparent at this meeting that Court Orders are still not being enforced therefore they are treated with contempt which adds to the suffering of those denied access to their children and grandchildren but more importantly the emotional abuse it causes the children involved.

There was no criticism of the law or the Children's Act 1989 per se just the lack of understanding of some of the decisions made by the Family Courts CAFCASS, Social Services and it is those decisions that we are deliberating and trying to understand.

The Llandudno Branch has had the honour of welcoming members of FNF Both Parents Matter from other branches including the Wirral so we are together which includes our National Executive giving these matters serious thought.

As always your comments are welcome as we are dealing with some difficult, and may I say tragic cases.

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Grandparents and Social Services intervention

05-Apr-2014

I have had two telephone calls from Grandmothers who feel there has been no sensitivity or justice in their cases.

The cases are very similar in that they both had trouble when they were young mothers bringing up their children and turned to the proper agencies for help and assistance, namely the Social Services.

Now that their families are up and having children of their own the Social Services have again came in to the picture and pursued Care Orders from the court which will ultimately mean the loss of contact with their grandchildren forever.

I rightly leave the law to those who study it and practice it but both grandparents admit they approached the Social Services over twenty years ago for help which is the very historical, basis of the complaint against them now.

We are told the Social Services have moved forward over the last few years and we accept and welcome that but cannot courts and Social Services apprehend that perhaps the Social Services were not skilled to deal with children's moods and modern complexities at that point in time, yet face parents and schools nowadays in profusion, and is accepted as normal behaviour that requires special measures and statements to accommodate the children's needs and quality of life.

Best wishes,

Frank

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