Children in care have little faith in courts, says Children's Rights Director

Many children in care have little faith in the ability of courts to make the right decisions affecting their future, research by the Children’s Rights Director has revealed.

A group of 58 children were asked whether they thought the courts "usually make the right decision". The votes were:

• “No, never”: 23
• “Not usually”: 6
• “Sometimes”: 15
• “Usually”: 6
• “Yes, always”: 8.

Many of the respondents who participated in the Children on Family Justice project reported having negative experiences of being in court such as feeling nervous, scared and intimidated. The three main worries for children going to court included: whether the court’s decisions would be right for them; people and strangers hearing about their private lives and problems; and not being able to give the right answers to important questions in front of a court.

The research also found that the vast majority of respondents – some 45 out of 58 – believe that members of the public and reporters should not be allowed into courts when children’s cases are being held. Six suggested reporters should be allowed in, three believed members of the public should be able to attend, and just two said both.

Discussion groups held with the children produced a number of suggestions for ways in which the courts could improve. These include:

• the court checking up – perhaps every two years – on what happened to the children after it has decided their future. “This is to ensure that the right decision has been made and to check that it is still appropriate when the child is older,” the report said
• giving children leaving families time to see family members and say goodbye properly
• making sure that it is never one person alone who makes a decision in court, but a number of people together, to make it less likely that they get it wrong
• providing more information through child-friendly literature
• having someone explain why decisions have been made and to answer any questions the child may have.

The groups also suggested that the government should be trying to get fewer decisions made by the courts about what is best for children.

The children said the best people to get important decisions about them right were professionals working with children (46 out of 56 responses).

Dr Roger Morgan, the Children’s Rights Director, said: “Decisions made about children in court are life changing. This report is vitally important as it enables children in care to get their views across to the Family Justice Review Panel.

“Children have provided suggestions where the courts could improve. However, what stands out most through talking with children is their view that they should always have a say about decisions about their lives. It is worrying that the experience of many children was that they had not known, or felt they had a say in, what was happening to them.”

Dr Morgan said more needed to be done to talk directly with children, make sure they understand what is going on, and take their views into account. “This would help to lessen the anxiety children experience when major decisions are made about their lives,” he argued.

As part of the research, the children were asked to consider five different ways the law might work in future to get important decisions right.

The most popular suggestion was “each side presenting their case to court”, which 30 respondents rated as good or very good. However, another 22 rated it as a very bad approach.

The other methods (in descending order of popularity) were: “all sides meeting to sort things out”; “getting advice to help sort things out”; “an independent person to decide” and “doing an investigation to find out the facts”.

Of the children involved in the voting, 46 said they had experience of an important decision being made about them in court. Six had not had such an experience, while six did not respond. In the discussion groups, 34 of the 67 children had experience of the courts making a decision.

Philip Hoult