GRANDPARENTS APART UK LATEST NEWS

[Alison J Stevens]

The Glasgow City Council minutes pertaining to the meeting relating to The Charter for Grandchildren which was held on 26th August
2010
without our knowledge or invitation.

3.1. The attached charter outlines the rights of children and the responsibilities of

statutory agencies which are already in legislation, primarily the Children (Scotland)

Act 1995 and the Adoption Act (Scotland) 2009, which ensure that in making

decisions on the lives of children a full assessment of need should be undertaken

involving all relevant people. The definition of relevant people includes grandparents.

3.2. It is proposed therefore that the Council is able to acknowledge that the rights of

children and the role that grandparents play is already understood and part of the

practice in working with children and their families.

We would like to respond as follows.

The definition of relevant people includes grandparents:-

Have social services made a new law now accepting that grandparents are relevant persons in their grandchildren’s lives. H. Burgess from the Scottish Government Law Division has
just sent me a letter telling me grandparents have no rights to their
grandchildren. Has this head of social services lost the plot?

The Scottish Law Society is also considering this letter from H. Burgess as we put to them that lawyers are
saying on Radio and TV that grandparents do have rights, causing massive
confusion to our members. They said they will reply after consideration by their
sub committee.

The head of Glasgow Social services has stated what is contained in the Charter for Grandchildren is already part of their standard practice. If that be the case then they are implying that
thousands of grandparents that have contacted us for help have been untruthful
(telling lies) in saying they were not considered by social services regards
their grandchildren.. “What a bloody cheek”, yes I repeat “what a bloody cheek”
coming from an organisation who are infamous in every country of the
UK for the very untruths
they infer grandparents are telling.

The reason for campaigning for “The Charter for Grandchildren” was because our experience and research has shown that Grandparents were not being considered to be relevant
and were being left out by Professionals, in particular Social Workers, when
decisions were being about the welfare of children.

There was clearly enough evidence of this to convince a Labour Scottish Government to create the Charter for Grandchildren and promote the need for grandparents to be considered
more in children’s lives. When labour GCC was the first council in Scotland to
adopt “The Charter for Grandchildren” we were very proud to be notified of this
but we now feel it has been abandoned by the omnipotent power of Social Services
and communication from GCC councillors has been skimpy and some have ignored us
altogether.

We asked

1, Does your Social Work Dept. recognise that there is a shortfall in considering Grandparents more fully?

2, What new Guidance has been brought in to help guide and support your Staff in implementing The Charter for Grandchildren if you already practice
it.

3, Which monitoring procedures are being used to police what social workers are telling grandparents? Is it true Social Workers can tell lies as long as they say it is
in the best interests of children.

4, Every member of Grandparents Apart UK has been referred to their MSP in Scotland and MP in
England and they in turn
ultimately have been unable to help because Social Services do not regard
grandparents as relevant persons.

5, Social services have taken advantage of grandparents in a crisis by telling them if they don’t or can’t take their grandchildren in they will never
see them again as they will be adopted. What grandparent could or would refuse
their flesh and blood in the middle of the night or if their parents were in
jail or hospital then lose them again when it is convenient for social
services.

6, Grandparents are afraid to contact social services because they are always first to lose contact with their grandchildren when social services
become involved.

Our group is not just on a campaign against social services we really believe that the facts strongly tell us that social services’ policies are not the best that can be done for vulnerable
children.

Social Services are an essential service because of today’s drug and alcohol culture where grandparents could/should play a role caring for children and in early detection of child
neglect and abuse. Our aim is to improve the communication of grandparents and
social services in our children’s best interest and to promote the use of
mediation that the governments would like to see practised.

Before we really start talking seriously about mediation there are a few points that need to be cleared up. Attitudes need to change somewhat to lay the foundations
for mediation to succeed.. The set up as described below does not in anyway
encourage mediation. In fact it is detrimental to mediation

Why would mothers consider it when everything is going their way as it is? The government funds these organisations and their very working is in contradiction to the government
saying families should work in harmony and grandparents are important to
children. How can grandparents be important in children’s lives if they don’t
get the chance and are regarded as irrelevant?

1a) It does appear the system works on the basis that women are the only parents capable of rearing children in the traditional family.

b) The government claims grandparents are important to children but refuse to recognise them as relevant people in their lives.

2 a) Social services rarely include grandparents or extended family because the law does not recognise them.

b) Fathers rights are also seldom recognised by social services.

3, Woman’s Aid focuses on protecting woman. The very name tells us that the real best interests of children are secondary to their cause when they are tutoring
women how to avoid contact with the paternal side of a child’s family even if
grandparents or fathers have done no wrong. This encourages flouting of contact
orders because they get a slap on the wrist and told not to do it again with it.
(Non-compliance is a major issue)

Millions could be saved to families and the public purse if these organisations focussed on what is best for children. It would cut down on legal aid and social service
and welfare costs.

Grandparent’s Apart UK

22 Alness crescent

Glasgow G52 1PJ

0141 882 5658

Value http://www.grandparentsapart.co.uk