Only
six couples sign up for Hodge's £1m mediation scheme
By Patrick Hennessy, Political Editor
Daily
Telegraph - 3rd April 2005
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/04/03/nmed03.xml
A £1 million
government project aimed at mediating between warring parents has attracted
just six couples in its first six months.
Margaret Hodge,
the children's minister, now faces accusations that she introduced the
Family Resolutions pilot scheme simply to try to ward off protests from
the Fathers4Justice pressure group until after the general election,
expected on May 5.
The project,
which came into force last September, was aimed at separated couples
embroiled in legal disputes over their children.
advertisementOperating
at courts in Brighton, Sunderland and London, couples taking part are
encouraged to agree on a parenting plan and are offered mediation services
as an alternative to lengthy and painful court battles.
Ministers expected
at least 3,500 couples to join the scheme which, if successful, was
to be implemented in courts across the country.
A parliamentary
written answer from Mrs Hodge, however, has revealed that only 25 couples
were referred between September and March, with only six of them attending
the "parent planning" stage.
The scheme,
which cost an estimated £1 million to set up, now appears close
to collapse. When the pilot was announced, fathers' groups, which have
staged protests about access to children, were unhappy that mediation
was not being made compulsory. Theresa May, the shadow minister for
the family, said last night: "The Government has wasted large amounts
of taxpayers' money on a ploy to buy off criticism from angry parents.
Ministers were told by the judiciary, politicians and parents' groups
that this was doomed to failure.
"It is
clear that Mrs Hodge was more intent on heading off criticism to avoid
this being an election issue than addressing the failings in the family
justice system.
"Parents
and grandparents will be rightly outraged at such a cynical move. Every
week, parents are losing contact with the children they love. It is
a great shame that the government should play politics with such an
important issue."
The scheme involves
coup-les being shown a video of children aged 12 to 15 talking about
their parents' divorces. There is also role play among fathers and mothers
to show what sort of behaviour can trigger anxiety in children.
Ministers said
last night that the fact that only three courts had been chosen for
the pilot project helped to explain the low number of parents entering
the scheme.
A spokesman
for the Department for Education and Skills said the pilot would be
fully evaluated before a decision was made about whether and how it
would be rolled out nationally.
