Children and Adoption Bill [HL]

My Lords, I was not going to speak to these amendments but, having been goaded by the noble Earl, Lord Howe, I need to say a couple of words. First, I admired, as I always admire, his carefully reasoned arguments. They are always carefully thought through and, I believe, very much in the interests of the child and the family. Disagreeing with him does not mean I do not sympathise with the objective he is trying to reach. I start with the ““lies, damn lies and statistics”” issue. The figure of 1 per cent comes from the judicial statistics. The Napo research, which is a useful piece of work that I find extremely valuable, has a quite different objective, and shows that CAFCASS was indeed doing its job. We should not be producing a whole load of reports, but intervening on behalf of children and working with the families to improve contact. The research is very selective. It is not modelled; it is an experiential piece of work that looks at cases, so it is not balanced against the whole numbers issue. It is valuable, however, in that it shows that if we work carefully with families we can increase contact. This is what we should be looking for. The noble Earl is right in saying that the sooner these issues are dealt with, the more likely it is that contact will be maintained, which is what we all want to happen. However, he is not right in suggesting that one parent has to argue for or against contact. It is the responsibility of those looking at the situation, and of the judge assessing the situation, to ensure that the child’s interests are put first in whatever is decided. When you are in court, you feel you are arguing for your case, and I usually hear that both parents feel that. Much as I admire the argument, eloquent as it is, I still do not feel that I could vote for anything that interferes with the central presumption of the child’s welfare and interests being paramount.