As a consultant solicitor specialising in care proceedings and all aspects of child protection, I also work internationally to help governments and judiciaries improve their child protection procedures. Most countries have good laws in relation to vulnerable children. The problem is they are not properly or consistently implemented.
Take Paraguay for example. The court may make emergency orders in respect of a child who has been abused or abandoned but fail to make final orders for permanency for 5-10 years. During that time, the child is usually placed in an institution or bounced around other placements adding to their trauma and leaving lifelong psychological impact. Parents are often excluded from the court proceedings. The concept of ‘right to a fair trial’ is conceptual only.
As such, I was invited by Paraguay Protects Families (PPF) to help them influence and improve the legal decision-making process for vulnerable children and spent several months there in 2019 and have returned many times since. I was asked by the General Defender to train judges and lawyers in Paraguay and soon realised many did not know the law or acted outside it. In turn, I was then asked by the government minister for Children to be the liaison with the Judiciary to create a coordinated approach. Together with national partners, and in consultation with national leaders, I then prepared a unified manual of the law clearly defining roles, responsibilities, and timescales for court proceedings with a pictorial flow chart that is easily understood by any interested party. The next step is for the manual to be ratified and plans made to narrow the gap from the current reality to child centric implementation of what the law actually says.
In April 2023, myself and various members of PPF met with the Supreme Court judge with responsibility for the child and family courts. Not only did she agree to ratify the manual but also to arrange a summit of national leaders in June/July to make plans for its implementation – It looks like I will be returning to Paraguay soon!
Ruth Sharon, consultant solicitor
