Anthony Hewson's sudden resignation came as no surprise to EPC.
... .

Mr Hewson is transparently honest and sincere. After his appointment he quickly saw that something was very wrong in the way CAFCASS staff were dealing with separated parents, shut out of their children's lives for no good reason.

In my view Anthony Hewson tried extremely hard to effect positive change within CAFCASS. It is no exaggeration to say that his efforts were sabotaged by CAFCASS and LCD staff who simply would not accept that what they were doing (and continue to do) to children and families was (and is) profoundly wrong.

I was fortunate enough to spend many hours conferring with Anthony Hewson over the course of his Chairmanship. I found him to be an impressive individual. I trusted him and for a time I thought he could turn CAFCASS round. However, extreme pressure was put on Mr Hewson to ignore us.

Mr Hewson tried (among other things) to improve CAFCASS's so called complaints procedure in order to make it effective, instead of letting it remain a sham policy which merely allowed (and continues to allow) incompetent CAFCASS staff to hide behind an iron curtain of unaccountability. This too was sabotaged, as were his attempts to engage stakeholders regarding the installation of proper methodologies for CAFCASS staff to work to. The changes that were made were mere window dressing.

We have made available to the CAFCASS Board irrefutable evidence that Charles Prest, Legal Director of CAFCASS, and other senior CAFCASS staff are unfit to remain in their jobs. Mr Hewson tried to appoint an external adjudicator to assess this evidence.

The procedure was set out in writing by CAFCASS but the organization has failed to comply with its own procedure. EPC believes that Mr Hewson was unable to gain the cooperation even of CAFCASS's Chief Executive, Jonathan Tross, to ensure that an effective investigation was carried out. This is the extent of the cover-up at CAFCASS which the Government has failed to address.

The fact is that the Hewson resignation shows that corruption and incompetence continue to prevail within CAFCASS. But instead of the corrupt and incompetent people losing their jobs, Anthony Hewson resigned (I believe) out of disgust - because he couldn't get senior CAFCASS people to conduct themselves in a decent, principled fashion.

Mr Hewson, up to a few months ago, had great faith in his ability to put CAFCASS right. But he always said he would resign if he reached the point where he felt he could not deliver the goods. We are now left with people like Tross and Prest who are the kiss of death to positive change.

The Commons Select Committee, which found so much wrong with CAFCASS, only scratched the surface of the misery that CAFCASS is causing to children and families. It did not thoroughly investigate the private law arena and it did not consider evidence from parents and grandparents who have been forced out of their children's lives, effectively by CAFCASS due to its utterly incompetent (and in some cases downright corrupt) staff. Consequently, the Select Committee did not remotely grasp the extent of CAFCASS failures.

From the time of his appointment, EPC brought evidence from Best Practice jurisdictions before Anthony Hewson (and before Government) that showed that CAFCASS was at least 20 years behind. Shortly after his appointment, Mr Hewson said it was disgraceful that this evidence had not yet been looked at. Yet no progress has been made to modernize our family justice system.

EPC (and other groups) brought over judges and child welfare experts from USA and Canada who demonstrated how custody and access disputes should be handled in the modern world. Government kept its ears firmly shut. We warned of the growing outrage amongst excluded parents. Faced with threats and demonstrations by more radical groups, Government recently said (if last Sunday's Observer is to be believed) that it will consult with Bob Geldof as to what reforms are needed.

Government has ignored:

*knowledge from Best Practice jurisdictions
*the views of top judges & experts from those countries
*UK's own court appointed experts (like Dr Hamish Cameron)
*countless complaints from countless parents & grandparents
*Mr Hewson himself

But now they are going to consult a Rock Star! What a ridiculous way to behave!

Urgent, effective action is needed now to cut out the cancerous parts which contaminate CAFCASS. CAFCASS staff are a law unto themselves - no wonder there is corruption and incompetence. This must change immediately. CAFCASS must be completely re-vamped from top to bottom.

The Government must install a legal presumption that all separated parents should be granted equitable PARENTING TIME with their children (unless their children's safety would be put at risk) regardless of the parent's gender. The courts should be empowered to make and enforce effective PARENTING TIME orders. An EARLY DAY MOTION is about to be tabled in Parliament on these matters. It has all-party support.

Judges need clear rules and guidelines that they must follow.

I believe that Mr Hewson has fallen on his sword in order to highlight the dire state of our family justice system.

Tony Coe, President, EQUAL PARENTING COUNCIL

-----------------------------NOTES:---------------------------------

The Observer article referred to above is on the web here:

EPC's submission to the Select Committee can be found at:
http://www.equalparenting.org/select_committee.htm

Sir Bob Geldof is but one angry dad (amongst hundreds of thousands) who, in spite of his impressive resources, was virtually ruined by our disgraceful family justice system. If Bob was brought to his knees by, imagine what is happening everyday to ordinary parents and their kids.