Siblings, Contact and the Law
An examination of the legal process, its decisions and the impact on sibling relationships
Siblings are frequently overlooked in policies and research about children and families. This is particularly the case in legal research, This project was the first to foreground the relationship. The main reason is that, unlike spousal or parent/child relationships, the sibling relationship gives rise to few explicit rights and no obligations. Law is ambivalent about what it expects, attributes to or wants from these relationships. And this gives rise to misunderstandings and uncertainty for families and practitioners - particularly those subject to or working in child protection and adoption law.
Our project focused on sibling contact in public care proceedings, a complex issue that affects an increasing number of vulnerable children.
What we’re researching:
We first mapped all the statutory references to siblings – and were surprised by the extent of references to them and finding them in unexpected places, such as the Breeding and Sale of Dogs (Welfare) Act 1999. It also revealed a lack of coherency in definitions and the terminology used to describe them.
We then reviewed adoption and child protection case law. This task was complicated by the fact that in these legal proceedings, the sibling relationship is often one of many relevant background factors looked at in determining the welfare of the child. We also interviewed judges, barristers, solicitors, social workers, Independent Review Officers and guardians in order to examine assumptions, shifts and patterns in practice over a period of time.
In collaboration with the Family Justice Young People’s Board we established a participation group of 10 young people, aged between 16 and 25. They had previously identified the treatment of siblings by the family justice system as an overlooked area, but one of real concern for young people. Working with them helped us ensure that our findings were informed by, and accurately reflected, their experiences and views.
The research revealed an enthusiasm for addressing the treatment of siblings by the system and a recognition that decisions about them are often the hardest and sometimes ‘the most heartbreaking’. But it also revealed that there are no easy fix solutions, rather, a need - on a case by case basis – to bring the relationships more to the fore, listen more attentively to how young people talk about their brothers and sisters (they hate the word ‘siblings’), and to be prepared to challenge some of the deep seated assumptions which prevent contact taking place and sometimes effectively end relationships entirely.
“Most recently, the research’s findings about young people and practitioners’ attitudes to social media are being referred to by researchers and policy makers in order to help inform effective use of digital/online methods of contact between separated children in response to the current COVID-19 crisis.”
What will the impact be?
The primary aim of ‘Siblings, Contact and the Law’ was to fill a knowledge gap and enhance engagement with and encourage conversations between key stakeholders working in family justice about contact between siblings in public law proceedings.
"We hosted an end-of-project seminar for family justice policymakers and practitioners, as well as social policy and child psychologists researching siblings, to bring together legal policy and practice and the latest research in the field," Professor Daniel Monk, School of Law explains.
"Since the publication of the research we have presented the findings to approximately 2000 people at numerous events across the country. These have included training sessions for local authority social workers, lectures and seminars at four Judicial College events for judges; and presentations at national events organised by CoramBAAF Adoption and Fostering Academy, National Association of Independent Reviewing Officers (NAIRO), and the Association for Lawyers for Children," Professor Monk adds.
We are working with the Family Justice Young People’s Board to develop materials for young people and adult practitioners working in the field of public law proceedings.
We also developed a Briefing Note and ran a webinar for Research in Practice - an organisation that helps bridge the gap between academia and social policy practitioners. And we worked closely with journalists to make an in-depth radio programme about the issue for BBC Radio 4’s File on Four, which was first broadcasted in January 2020.
Most recently, the research’s findings about young people and practitioners’ attitudes to social media are being referred to by researchers and policy makers in order to help inform effective use of digital/online methods of contact between separated children in response to the current COVID-19 crisis.
Project Fact-file
- Full project title: Siblings, Contact and the Law: An Overlooked Relationship?
- Funding: £150,922 [ID LAW/42776]
- Funder: Nuffield Foundation
- Length of award: 24 April 2017 to 23 October 2018
- Supported by: Department of Law (School of Law)
- Project website: Siblings, contact and the law
- People: Daniel Monk, School of Law, Birkbeck, University of London
Further Information
A full project report and other articles are available to download for free on the project website Siblings, contact and the law hosted by the Nuffield Foundation.