Douglas Carswell

The Injustice of Secret Courts

Too many grandparents never get to see their grandchildren again. Why?

Because the state takes their children's children into care – and then has them adopted. The key decisions are made in secret family courts.

Don't get me wrong. Most of the time, I have no doubt that the decisions made by family courts are the right ones. You need the wisdom of Solomon to make these kinds of judgements.

But too often I fear wrong decisions are being made. Perfectly loving grandparents, who are perfectly capable and willing to provide of home for the grandkids are being ignored and overruled by a system that invites collusion between the experts and the professionals.

Family court proceedings are closed to the public, and the testimony and identity of local authority witnesses is protected. As a result, local officials and expert witnesses responsible for the break-up of families are immune from public scrutiny and accountability.

Intervention to put a stop to genuine cases of child abuse is a necessity. But the lack of accountability has led to other abuses. In many cases, children have been removed from their birth parents unnecessarily, causing enormous emotional distress. Instead of being protected, some have suffered abuse in foster care that they would never otherwise have encountered.

In 2008, The Times's Camilla Cavendish wrote a series of articles documenting the failings of social services. In some cases, injuries to children had been improperly diagnosed. In others, recommendations were given by professionals who had never met either parents or children.

In response to the Cavendish campaign, Gordon Brown's government drafted legislation to allow media attendance in court and the identification of professional witnesses. But following an inquiry by the Commons Justice Committee in 2011, the legislation was never implemented.

It is time to put this injustice right, and UKIP in Parliament will be bringing forward some new ideas to do this.

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