I couldn't stop reading the article, even though I am a U.S. citizen living in California. I've heard over and over from British people working here that the UK family courts are hellbent on punishing fathers of children. Thank God I"m not a man in the U.K., is all I can say.

Kai Thorsten, Oakland, United States

Local Authorities and Social Services have turned Fostering and adoption into an Industry, where by the Children are the products in this "Business". Social Services have displaced more families in the UK then the 2nd World War to meet Government targets.

Ken, Durham, Durham

How strange that this debate has all gone quiet in the wake of the Baby P case!!!!!

J Jones, Midlands, UK

I know of tons of cases where adoptions are held up because social services insist on assessing mum, dad, grandparents, distant uncle, great aunt hilda etc... and why? Because they want to rule out every avenue before removing a child from its birth family.

J Jones, Midlands, UK

Trouble with social workers is they entre family law courts and are not qualified to report as they do not fully understand the full ramifications of what they inform the judge and inevitably it is based on the mothers say so rather then what the children truly want which is normally mum AND dad,OK

Dave Farmer, Broxbourne, England

If a child dies of neglect and/or physical harm, the public cry "where were the social workers? Why didn't somebody do something?" When social workers do intervene, we are often accused of meddling, spying etc... (and of course so many accusations like some seen on this thread). We cannot win.

Sean, Staffordshire,

I too believe that we should not judge all cases with the same clouded view. I know of some amazing social workers and it upsets me to hear that they are being slammed for the mistakes of others. Would it be fair to say that all TV programmes are rubbish based on viewing one poor programme?

J Jones, Dudley, UK

Well my case was discharged from the family law courts yesterday thank god now just have to wait for my children to be old enough to decide when they would like to see me as the mother would never accept the contact arrangements. I can only hope it is not too lat for them, as childhood is so short!

Dave Farmer, Broxbourne, England

It makes me sad to hear the sexist attitudes. Ther are GOOD mothers and fathers and BAD mothers and fathers, just as ther are good and bad social workers and Judges.

I also know for a fact that the courts do not always give a child to the mother.

We should concentrate on getting Justice

Susan, West Midlands,

Sadley my experiance as recent as yesterday is still unimpressed these clock watching do-gooders seem to be just talking shops for their own benifit rather then offering anything substatial to children at risk! The responsability of parent is undermined by laws giving kids rights too young to cope!

Dave Farmer, Broxbourne, England

I feel deeply for all the Social Workers out there who work day in day out to protect children from harm yet they are being made out to be monsters! The real monsters are those parents who abuse their children and then blame everyone else for it.

J Jones, Dudley, UK

My experiance( Lynsey) of your apalling profession is just when you need support the most the CSF, CAMHS & Cafcass pull up the drawbridge & go on holiday, or change the case worker who only works every 3rd Thursday etc perhaps these comments are not so much one sided but the cold reality of the day!

Dave Farmer, Broxbourne, England

As a child social worker I am saddened by the negative comments and this one-sided article. It is never the decision of one social worker to remove a child & when initiating care proceedings it is because all other options to protect the child have been exhausted. It is not a decision taken lightly

Lynsey, London,

Mothers lie, cry, exaggerate, delay and deliberately mislead in residence/contact cases every single day and they get away with it. The idea that a social worker would make up an allegation that a mother coached the kids to lie is a joke. Let this be a lesson to all those mums planning to play games

Adrian Bayer, Durham, USA

I was born and raised in Italy and moved to London 15 years ago and I am horrified at the child snatching social services in England. I think their aggressive and secretive way is motivated by their desire to justify their taxpayer funded job. They should be sent to Darfur to feed hungry children.

Paolo, London SW1, UK

Dad I may as well have been a black man entering a KKK meeting! This has also been described as Orwellian but I would take it a stage further and say it is more like the worst excesses of cold war soviet Russia, as no matter what appeals you make you become invisible, and when you try to be heard you are accused of being aggressive.

Dave Farmer, Broxbourne, England

Yes there is light at the end of the long dark tunnel for us innocents: parents and children who have been subjected to horrendous and unforgivable treatment by the family legal system and local government: Thank you Camilla Cavendish for giving us a lifeline and exposing this mess of a system!

Lady Sabina Heywood, West Midlands, U.K

I think there has got to be a revised system where Local Authorities take into account EVERYONE'S opinions before making an informed decision regarding the child's future - Every Child Matters was supposed to ensure children were protected from harm not unneccessarily being placed into care.

Emma, Staffordshire, England

Corruption involves acceptance of bribes - is this what is happening in the family courts? Or are they trying to implement poorly written legislation in emotionally charged situations? Lawyers can earn lots in corporate cases - isn't family law an underfunded and unpopular backwater?

diana, derby,

It is incredible. I've had dealings with CAFCAS on several levels and can honestly say that no-one gets anywhere positive once this group are involved, least of all the child/children. Changing this should be one of the highest priorities on any legal agenda.

Jane Simpson, London, UK

There is something in this as all the authorities sing from the same hymn sheet. They are "expected" to respond in a way that traditionaly puts Dad in the wrong so work to this for court expediancy. A vendgefull mother cannot be arrested for breaching court orders,Yet Dad can for collecting the kids

Dave Farmer, Broxbourne, England

One root of the problem is that social workers, teachers, doctors and police work together to establish a "case." Even where their "evidence" is demonstrated to be completely untrue they are shielded by their superiors and regulatory authorities (e.g. the BMA). They must be made answerable.

John MacLeod, Portmahomack, Scotland

In much the same way as society scornes the F4J, coz they have been conditioned to by who? Gov,judges and media. Yet think about it these guys don't want to look foolish or dangerous don't even want ot be campaigning. Just want to see their kids as the courts have ordered but can't enforce on mother

Dave Farmer, Broxbourne, England

I too was caught in the family court system where everything
I say simply didn't matter or taken into consideration by the judge. Sometimes I felt pointless to go to court just because the judge had made up his mind as to who is right and who is wrong.

PG, Preston, UK

I have worked in the family courts for the last forty years. The whole system is corrupt and works against parents and their children. I hve seen a judge give children back to a man who had already murdered a child beause his social worker said he was rehabilitated.

erin pizzey, twickenham, england

My advise to any newly seperated father applying to these kangeroo courts is don't bother total waste of time and money if you are unable to agree contact with the mother nothing the court can do will guarentee it if she chooses to withhold the children they will not enforce it !Times May 1st 08

Dave Farmer, Broxbourne, England

It's incredible to me that this reporter is being able to talk about this issue. It's about time someone did and I herald her courage in doing so. She has given the children a voice - children we're supposed to care about, which was why they were taken from their parents to begin with!

Tonya, Cleveland, USA

I totally applaud Camilla Cavendish's campaign. I think I am right in saying that a l.a. can start compulsory adoption proceedings even if the child has not been legally taken into care. Your proposed changes should require a two year gap after a care order and abolish numeric targets for adoption

B C Crossland, London, UK

I am less concerned about the privacy of family proceedings than I am about the gross underfunding. Take Social Workers for example. Some excellent, some poor, many in the middle. Look at the enormous case load they struggle to cope with and there is no surprise that poor decisions are made.

Andrew , Cardiff,

When they finally expose the miscarriages of justice , what court will deal with the solicitors barristers , Guardian at litems who drove off after fleecing children of any chance of a normal life ?
what about the children who die in care.

linda McDermott, Luton, bedfordshire

Large bureaucracies are struggling the hardest to adapt to the radical change in society today. This is affecting good parents who just want to love their children. Decisions are based on values that are outdated. Openess is a good thing. It's time to trust that more will do the right thing.

Helen, Leatherhead,

Its a very simple matter to collate statistics without disclosing names. How about if we do that?

Anthony, Richmond,

I do feel for people who are wrongly accused, but people must remember that there are actual parents out there who do harm their children - and of course deny it afterwards! Social workers often give chance after chance, after chance to birth parents before taking the step to remove a child.

J Jones, Midlands,

One of the iniquities of the system was compounded when the distinguished lady Chairman of the Family Division, familiar over many years with Professor Meadow's in the Family Courts and with his work on the Judicial Studies Board, reappeared as an Appeal Judge at Sally Clark's failed appeal.

Frank Lockyer, Salisbury, Wiltshire

This is not only in public law cases but private law cases where the focus in on making contact work at all costs even if kids come back bruised, traumatised, threatened, emotionally abused and psychological disorientated. Guardian ad litems are very powerful and run the courts.

Parin, Loughborough,

I am shocked about how easy it is for a child to be taken from her parents for no apparent reason based on reports of inexperienced or bad-meaning SW. The least the government can do is to expose those SW who have mis-behaved - this way they will dis-incentivise other SW from doing the same.

Valia Anyfioti, London, UK

If corporate care is so much better, then why are 20,000 children gone missing each year from it?

Children do not run away from LOVE.

I read a Guardian report recently which stated...

"It does not matter if the child was abused in care or not, as long as he spoke about it."

Catherine Mills BA, HdipEd, CTG,TTG, London, UK

As a teenager, I was horrified to read your artical about family justice. That the social services should be able to withhold evidence, and just be able to put children up for adoptionwithout it is sick. At the very least, children themselves must be asked what really happend, not just taped.

Ciara , Cobham,

Most people have no idea their children can be taken so quickly and easily! The only way they find out is if it happens to them or someone they know. There is power is knowledge and we must all work to raise the awareness of this horrifing process and FIGHT to change it!

Lee-Ann Dunkle, Wadsworth, USA

There are 500,000 referrals to Social Services a year in the UK but only 30,000 can be picked up. It isn't that there is too much interference there is far too little. Many many children are left to rot with neglectful parents and end up in prison because of it. SWs? Often badly trained.

Carol, Torquay, UK

Family Law system is corrupt from top to bottom and the proof has just been sent to Strasbourg.

However, this is a global issue with the same corruption in Ireland, USA, Canada, Sweden.

Children have become a valuable commodity, and legalised child trafficing is rewarded.

Justice at last.

Lady Portia, London, UK

I will be writing to my MP. Congratulations on your perseverence on this horrifying situation.

But you overlook the much more common denial of children's rights to a relationship with their father after separation. The same system is at work - do you not see that the same injsutices will apply?

David Space, London, UK

I fail to see why the system cannot be open and accountable except for the most exceptional circumstances. If everyone involved was accountable, then everyone involved would be a lot more careful about the decisions they make.

Matari, Coventry,

I would write to my MP, but frankly, until my children are old enough to speak up for themselves in court, I am too afraid. No way am I going to draw myself to the attention of the authorities. But i wish you well with your campaign to make the family courts accountable.

Bella, London, UK

I wish the Times well in this campaign. Secretiveness is something tyrants and bullies crave; this characteristic is too often one of politically correct bureaucracies. Such power to abuse must be matched with equal openness in order that miscarriages of justice can be balanced with redress.

Mike Pitman, cambridge,

Why are Social Services allowed to be investigator, prosecutor, Jury, Judge and executioner?
Until they do what they are trained to do - Social Care and allow the CPS to deal with CP issues and until SW's are held accountable for their actions nothing will be resolved.
It happens in Scotland too.

Margaret Reid, Dunfermline, Scotland

Are you the one Camilla? do you have the bravado to continue with this quest. to follow it through to the end,
To often we have journalist approach us asking for assistance in "telling the story" and then drop out of sight a few weeks later.
Time will tell !!

John McConnell, Gosport, England

Social Services are a rule to themselves they report to no one and they treat adoptive parents just as badly, please give a thought to these people too who open their lives to give a loving home to children and get put through hell by social services and NO ONE gives them any support either

jim, hampshire, england

I have never written to my MP before but tonight, for the first time, I have.
I wish you all the best with your campaign and hope The Times is successful in getting family courts opened up to scrutiny. The veil of secrecy has been in place for too long.

Michelle Smart, Blisworth, England

Amongst the worst agencies with parental responsibility are local authorities and social services. Young people taken into care, for what ever reason, too often end up as prostitutes, unemployed and uneducated, as drug users and dealers, gang members and career criminals. Some achievement this is.

Ernest Jacques, York, North Yorkshire

Simply Appalling. Here in Germany we have a comparable situation. A 21 Billion Euro financial budget is allocated annually to the "Child Care Industry" - and they use it.

84 children disappear daily into a very corrupt system. I would like someone to contact me with a view to comparing Parameters

Peter Briody, Immenstaad, Germany

I agree with the previous comment The law in Scotland is different: All individuals related to the case are involved in all aspects of the "process" of ensuring children are kept safe - decisions about contact and the childs future are may by a 3 person tribunal. Rights of appeal are key & built in.

Martin, Linlithgow, Scotland

Whenever anything is hidden it often means it can not withstand being scrutinised. This investigation is a good work, keep it up!

Mark, Auckland, New Zealand

The diry tactics used be Social Workers and Local Authorities have been been used for years to steal children away from their families and place placed for adoption. It is in my opionion genetic engineering outside a lab. We treat animals better than this.

Jenny W, chesterfield, united kingdom

No one ever abuses or neglects a child then? Of course they do and the authorities only deal with a fraction of the children who suffer dreadfully. The rest of us suffer when they grow up to be blighted adults.

Margaret, Newham, UK

I have recently listened to the story of a family threatened by the state into returning to their country of origin. If they did not return with their chil;dren one of whom is special needs they would be arrested by the state upon return and lose their kids to the state. This is england.

mike, leeds, uk

I have been through this over 10 years and over 30 hearings. I have heard social workers tell me that they cannot be challenged, that it is upto social workers (not even judges) to decide if I can see my son or not. I have also been shocked at the educational standard of social workers.

J Maxell, London, UK

We`ve been going through it for two years, and still are.
whos out there to help us? another paid off solicitor ?..
every word you`ve written is us. i wont walk away. i wont be gagged. because im not the one in the wrong.
the goverment is..

lorraine newhill, stourport on severn, england

It appears to me that the greater the powers given the state to destroy families the more radical our societies have become. How to repair this breach in our society will become one of the main goals for people who wish to be free. Rouge states hate light.

jim, Pembroke, usa

Living in a former communist country I have often listened in horror at some of the things the state inflicted on its people. But what the communists did, pales to insignificance when compared to some of the things this government is doing.

Where does the Court of Human Rights stand on this issue?

Richard Crow , Warsaw, Poland

I have tried again and again to bring the corruption of the so called child protection system to the attention of the politicians, and been totally ignored. So have many other people. It is a conspiracy of silence.

Barbara Richards, Staffordshire, England

The more government intrudes into our lives, telling us what parents can and cannot do and treating parents as potential abusers, the more we need a change in the operation of family courts in order to protect both parents and children .

Michael Cavaghan-Pack, Taunton,

This is appalling. Thank you, Times and Camilla, for hauling this murky business out into the light. I wish you all success in your campaign.

Lee Lyall, London, UK

Child protection has failed Britain.

They operate on the "may harm" principle. No mother can defend herself against this.

Mothers are right to emigrate, to avoid both the persecution & the dirty tactics of child protection.

Time to make them accountable!

Sally Ann Cooke, South Wales, UK

to Lili in Chicago - you are VERY naive if you think the system in the US is any better- rather, everything is geared towards the adoption business - from restricting abortions to instantly adopting children the minute their mothers have any brush with

Jenny, Los Angeles, USA

Why live in Britain ?. What is the point ?. A near police state, men are second class citizens, families stay together by the grace of God rather than guaranteed laws, children carry weapons to defend themselves, we are surveilled 24 hrs a day and expected to pay for it, the list is endless.

J Nowland, Leeds, United Kingdom

The Family court system is one big joke. The only people who gain from this mess is Solicitors. The children DO NOT COME FIRST IN THIS DIABOLIC SHAM. I myself personally have been going through the family court system for over 8 years, The Family courts need to be open to the public.

Clare Roberts, LIVERPOOL, England

Sadley so much of Camilla Cavendish's report applies to so many and at last the truth is comming out The system is rotten from top to bottom Judge barrister solicitor psycolagists social workers all guilty as hell yet if you speek they laugh saying do you think there is a conspiracy? YES I DO!!

Dave Farmer, Broxbourne, England

Best Interest of the Child is the phrase that is always used to steal children from loving parents.

Best Interest of the Child was first coined by Hitler- to remove children and give them to appropriate carers.

We all know what Hitler and SS did to children in secret.

I rest my case

Lady Portia, London, UK

However (Mr?) Caldwell, family members (e.g. fathers) can still be removed from the family home on evidence which appears flimsy. Lets none of us be complacent. Surely in a civilised society we must all do our best to see justice done whilst protecting our children.

Anne Marigold, Monte Pego, Spain

Having ones children removed permanently must surely be worse than a life sentence in prison or even the death penalty.

Anne Marigold, Monte Pego, Spain

I've been deeply disturbed by these reports, particularly by the information that social workers can receive bonuses for placing children for adoption. In the U.S., the goal is to keep families together if at all possible. Traumatizing them is no way to build a healthy social future.

Lili, Chicago, USA

How come if a child is removed due to the alleged abuse of a parent, physical or mental, that parent isn't then prosecuted in the criminal court. Then the reporting would be opened up and the "evidence" submitted to closer scrutiny surely?

Anne Marigold, Monte Pego, Spain

Lord Justice ward reported in the Times 1st May 2008,"Vengeful mothers" If law Lords cannot do anything about this who on earth can. What in your wildest dreams do you think inspires retional caring Dads to climg M.P.roofs, when all they want is the court imposed contact withtheir own children WHY?

Dave Farmer, Broxbourne, England

The Law firms must rub their hands together in glee when some poor dad comes for thier services instead of advising there is nothing they can do as ultimately it is the mother who will decide the out come, not the judge they will gladly plunder the legal aid funds for mum whilst bankrupting Dad!

Dave Farmer, Broxbourne, England

Social workers including Children schools and families& Cafarce will only report what the courts want to hear which is often far from fact but serves for expediancy in court! If the kangaroo family courts came under the same scrutiny as magistrates these failings would be exposed top to bottom!

Dave Farmer, Broxbourne, England

Yet another example of a Police State.

Adrian Ryan, Donegal, Ireland

Chidren's reporters in Scotland decide on children. They are only taken into care permanently after Reporter, Social Workers, Panel Members, social services committies, Safeguarders and Sheriffs have reached agreement. I have retired after 20 years as a Regional Reporter. We don't have family Courts

Miller Caldwell , Dumfries, Scotland