Member

It cannot be acceptable that our legislation currently gives more weight to a child’s contact with those who may have caused them significant harm than it does to contact with their siblings, who are totally blameless. I know all too well from my former career that removing a child from a family home is deeply traumatic. Having to explain to a frightened and traumatised child that they will be living somewhere else with strangers, separate from their siblings, has been a part of some of the most painful conversations that I have ever had. Over the last decade, the response from Ministers has always been that sibling contact is catered for in the guidance, or that they would update the regulations to reflect what I was asking for. Guidance is never a substitute for a legal duty and, to date, the regulations have not changed, despite all the promises. Our care system separates siblings, then denies them contact with each other.