Disrespect and defensiveness...lawyer slams Children’s Services’ complaints handling

17th December 2021

Image: Advocate Corbett, Corbett Le Quesne

Below is an excerpt from a Bailiwick Express Article relating to complaints procedures in Children's Services. 

"A local family lawyer has criticised Children’s Services for the way they respond to complaints, saying islanders are not treated in a “respectful manner”, whilst staff go into “defensive mode” or use “weasel words” rather than make people feel heard.

Advocate Barbara Corbett, a Senior Partner Corbett Le Quesne and a member of the Law Society’s Children Panel, regularly represents children and adults in care proceedings.

Her comments were shared with the Care of Children in Jersey Scrutiny Panel who recently reviewed the complaints processes across the Government of Jersey, States Assembly, the Courts and the Parish System and published their findings in a report this week."

Barbara was quoted in the report and article

“It is not acceptable for social workers or other staff to be attacked or shouted at or sworn at,” she wrote. “But it is absolutely not acceptable for social workers to be rude to parents, to belittle them or disrespect them. And above all, the employees of the Government of Jersey need to remember that they are professionals and their standards should be higher than the standards of vulnerable people who have challenging lives and, in the context of Children’s Services, no power.”

Read the whole article here: