Investing in Special Guardianship conference held today in London

The Centre for Child and Family Justice Research has joined forces with CoramBAAF and Grandparents Plus to hold a major conference Investing in Special Guardianship: opportunities and challenges in policy, law and practice in London today. Professor Karen Broadhurst is chairing and Professor Judith Harwin will give a talk on priority policy and practice messages from research.   

From the flier: 

In recent years special guardianship has transformed the landscape for children who cannot remain in the care of their birth parents.  Since 2010 more than 20,000 children have found a permanent home within their family networks, secured by a Special Guardianship Order that lasts until the young person is 18. 

Yet special guardianship faces a number of major challenges in law, policy and practice, which have been subject to recent reviews. They raise profound questions about the entitlements and experiences of children, special guardians and birth parents, and the relationships between courts, children’s services and special guardians.

This conference is timely. It brings together leaders in their fields to:

• present the latest findings from the Public Law Working Group Consultation
• reflect on the issues raised by the Re P-S Court of Appeal judgment
• examine key messages from The State of the Nation Kinship Care Survey 2019 authored by Grandparents Plus
• hear from special guardians and children 
• examine pre-proceedings engagement with families 
• examine latest research evidence 

Speakers include:

• The Honourable Mr Justice Keehan, Chair of the Public Law Working Group
• Deirdre Fottrell QC, 1 GC Family Law, London
• John Simmonds OBE, Director of Policy, Research and Development, CoramBAAF
• Cathy Ashley, Chief Executive, Family Rights Group
• Lucy Peake, Chief Executive, Grandparents Plus
• Maxine Campbell, Special guardian and Kinship Connected Project Worker at Grandparents Plus  
• Professor Judith Harwin, Co-director, Centre for Child and Family Justice Research, Lancaster University