Today is International Foster Carer Appreciation Day. We spoke to our colleague, Nicole, a member of our Child Care Department. Nicole is a “foster sibling” and her Mum does an amazing job of fostering vulnerable young children. Nicole has shared her thoughts about life as a foster sibling and why, in her view, fostering truly is an amazing job.

Domestic abuse, was once seen as a gender-specific offence committed by males towards females. From as early as the mid 1800’s, the law deemed it a husband’s acceptable right to exert control over his wife, through the use of physical abuse.

Over the last 18 years, the government has debated and discussed the increasing social problem of domestic abuse within the UK and reinforced the provisions available to law enforcement agencies. A the beginning of the 1990’s the Home Office took an approach to address and develop policy on domestic violence at a National and Multi-agency level. By 2003, numerous policy documents surrounding domestic abuse and the increase in reports had been published and presented to the government. They reacted to these findings by proposing a strategy tackling prevention, protection and justice for victims of domestic abuse; supporting victims to rebuild their lives.

The Justice Secretary, David Gauke has announced plans to introduce no fault divorce. It has been reported that he is preparing a consultation on reforming the current divorce law which is over 40 years old!

£19 million funding has been granted by the Government to expand support for survivors of domestic abuse services across England. This funding is to help survivors of abuse, and will go towards the provision of refuge beds, education and life skills training. Councils in England that are working with domestic abuse support charities will be able to bid for a share of funding, to help support victims in their local areas.

Sarah Ward, Partner is our Family team has featured in RightsInfo where she was discussing the need to end archaic divorce laws, which can force ex-partners to remain married in extreme circumstances.

CAFCASS are The Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service who look after the interests of children involved in family proceedings. They are independent of the Courts and Social Services. They work with children and their families, and then advise the Courts on what is considered to be in the best interests of individual children.

Saturday 18 August has been reported as the most common day in 2018 to tie the knot in the UK. However, since the early 1970s, the number of people actually getting married has steadily decreased, dropping a further 3.4% last year. There have been many theories about why marriage rates are falling, but regardless the fact remains that fewer people are formalising their relationship.