In June 2017 I wrote to Sir Anthony Douglas inquiring about a conference, way back on 16 October 2008, hosted by the Centre for Separated Families, at which he, Iain Duncan Smith and Karen Woodall were headline speakers. I also asked about Karen Woodall’s claims that she has trained Cafcass staff, and sent him a collection of her blog posts for him to peruse her insults at his leisure. His colleague replied to me that he had absolutely no memory of the conference and that Cafcass staff had not been trained by her. A couple of weeks later, Cafcass contacted me, asking whether I gave my permission for my email to be divulged to Karen Woodall, as she had made a subject access request. I wrote back, withholding my permission, and querying why she would make a subject access request if Cafcass had no dealings with her. I never received a reply. Then, to my astonishment, as I was catching up on the latest batch of Karen Woodall’s vitriol, I realised she was directly addressing me:
On 24 June 2017 she wrote: “I am equally amazed to discover, as I did this week, that someone is so hostile towards me that they have taken the trouble to compile a thousand page document of my writing and turned it into a searchable database for those who wish to know my thoughts on Gingerbread, Liz Trinder, Feminism and more. Whilst there is no need to wonder what drives this obsession, given my clear articulation of the problems these particular subjects cause in the lives of children, the fact that out there are people who are so opposed to what I do that they would bother to do this AND construct their own potted imaginary history of my work to go with it, is a little out there. I am reminded again that the children that I work with are influenced by parents who are often extremely unwell… No doubt we will continue to be dogged by the obsessed, the opposed and the general oddballs who occupy this divided landscape, but we will plough on regardless. If that someone who created that database would like to put their obsession to better use however, I could seriously use a good archivist!”
And the following day she wrote: “f the obsessive stalker would like to make yourself known to me I can give you a complete history of child maintenance reform instead of the made up potted history you are peddling which was brought to my attention last week. The questions you ask which intrigue you are very easily answered there is no need to make it up as you go along. As for prestigious events, well hang on to your hat because there’s something big coming next year.”
Someone at Cafcass had evidently given her the full content of my email, though, I assume, without divulging my name or email address. It certainly seems that Karen Woodall has a friend or two reasonably high up in Cafcass.
Now, apart from the incident above, I have had no dealings with Cafcass, nor do I know anyone who has, so I have no opinion on the organisation or its Chief Executive. But one thing is for sure: Karen Woodall loathes Sir Anthony Douglas.
For people who do not know what Cafcass is, here’s what its website says:
“Cafcass stands for Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service.
Cafcass represents children in family court cases in England. We put children’s needs, wishes and feelings first, making sure that children’s voices are heard at the heart of the family court setting, and that decisions are made in their best interests. Operating within the law set by Parliament (Criminal Justice and Court Services Act 2000) and under the rules and directions of the family courts, we are independent of the courts, social services, education and health authorities and all similar agencies.
Our duty is to safeguard and promote the welfare of children going through the family justice system. Our experienced Family Court Advisers may be asked by the court to work with families and then advise the court on what we consider to be the best interests of the children involved in three main areas:
- divorce and separation, sometimes called ‘private law’, where parents or carers can’t agree on arrangements for their children
- care proceedings, sometimes called ‘public law’, where social services have serious concerns about the safety or welfare of a child
- adoption, which can be either public or private law”
This section on Cafcass is not directly relevant to the matter of child maintenance, but it further illustrates the unprofessional, contemptuous, fanatical vitriol spewed out by Karen Woodall on her blog.
It may be useful for any reader of this website who has encountered her in the family courts. I do not wish to imply that “parental alienation” does not exist. I am sure that Karen Woodall has reunited some children with unjustifiably rejected parents. She works on behalf of alienated mothers as well as alienated fathers. I do not deny that a few women may well behave appallingly. But, given Karen Woodall’s epic levels of dishonesty, and her arrogance and inability to genuinely reflect, I worry that she may have been instrumental in forcing some “reunifications” or even “transfers of residence” with abusive or dangerous parents.
Karen Woodall’s hatred for Sir Anthony Douglas and Cafcass appears to have begun after the October 2008 conference. In the Centre for Separated Families accounts for the year ending March 2009, she wrote:
“The objective to secure income through training to CAFCASS has not been achieved. Although the organisation tendered for the contract to design the training for the contract to design the training for services being delivered across the UK by CAFCASS, this was unsuccessful. Relationship building with CAFCASS continues.”
Things soured after this point.
In conversation with Paul Manning, a regular commenter on her blog, and the Fathers 4 Justice “Haywain” protester, Karen Woodall wrote:
“The translation of change into the workforce will take longer and, I am afraid, is likely to pass CAFCASS by completely given their utter refusal to engage in any kind of standardised, transparent training, but my hope is that with the rest of the workforce engaged, we might start to prevent cases ever getting near CAFCASS in the first place.”
“CAFCASS, number one target for education, reform and an injection of humanity.”
Recounting her presentation on 27 June 2012 “a seminar at the House of Commons which was sponsored by Andrew Selous MP and Chaired by the High Court Judge Sir Paul Coleridge”, Karen Woodall wrote:
“There was of course a resistance to what was a really interesting and positive event, where the issue of parental alienation felt accepted and acknowledged and we were able to think about the issues in a supportive environment. The resistance came, as it often does, in the guise of CAFCASS, this time the Chair of CAFCASS Baroness Tyler who when challenged about the lack of training and awareness and the unskilled approach used by Family Court Practitioners told us that it is not the case that CAFCASS do not understand this issue, in fact it is the case that there are far more residence orders given to fathers these days and CAFCASS recommend residence orders for fathers and mothers on a more or less equal basis.
Given that Professor Bala was explicit in his presentation about the problem of residence and contact being a major contributor to the problem of alienation, her comment missed the point completely but what Baroness Tyler also failed to tell us was how she comes to know that her staff are recommending residence orders equally, a ‘fact’ that she stated so confidently and so breezily.
We know, for example, that there are no records kept of who gets residence in the family courts and so it cannot be from there that she garners her knowledge. The only other way she could be so definite and so unequivocal about the issue of who gets residence was if CAFCASS are keeping records of what is being recommended by their workers, something I very much doubt. But you can bet I will be following it up with a letter both to the Baroness herself and her head of service Anthony Douglas.
Apart from that short deviation (when all in the room appeared to stare in astonished disbelief, both at the lack of understanding of the root of the problem and the breath taking arrogance so common to the upper echelons of CAFCASS), the event demonstrated that the issue of alienation is increasingly being accepted, as is the need for the kind of court management that will prevent it. It was, I hope, the first of many more opportunities to educate and inform and who knows, one day we might even pierce the fog of the obfuscation that appears to be the order of the day in the management of CAFCASS.”
“We will be doing a lot more work around this issue for sure and yes, the issue of wishes and feelings was raised alongside the issue of residence and contact as a problem in elevating children to the place of poower over parents..again the Baroness breezed by the issue with breathtaking disregard…she’s on CAFCASS message but way off the mark when it comes to the real world.”
“…again the Baroness [Tyler] breezed by the issue with breathtaking disregard…she’s on CAFCASS message but way off the mark when it comes to the real world.”
“Apart from that short deviation (when all in the room appeared to stare in astonished disbelief, both at the lack of understanding of the root of the problem and the breath taking arrogance so common to the upper echelons of CAFCASS), the event demonstrated that the issue of alienation is increasingly being accepted, as is the need for the kind of court management that will prevent it. It was, I hope, the first of many more opportunities to educate and inform and who knows, one day we might even pierce the fog of the obfuscation that appears to be the order of the day in the management of CAFCASS.”
“We are standing by and watching the institutionalised abuse of these children and we are doing nothing about it. Worse still, we are, through the continued existence of organisations like CAFCASS, enabling the state to inflict appalling injury to our children.”
“Set up to supposedly support parents experiencing family separation, CAFCASS has, for too many families become the terror that stalks them. Day after day on this training tour we heard the same story, of the lack of knowledge amongst CAFCASS staff, of their crass dismissal of a parent’s concerns about a child’s behaviour and of the ways in which the arrival of CAFCASS in the case caused problems to escalate and the child’s reactions to worsen.
Now there is something rotten in our system of supporting separated families and whilst one bad apple doesn’t spoil the whole basket, one good apple amongst a basket of bad is going to have a hard time convincing the outside world that its not CAFCASS that causes the biggest problems. I am not, however, going to fall foul of stereotyping and say that all CAFCASS officers are the same. I work with a couple of CAFCASS officers who absolutely ‘get’ the issue of the alienation of a child and the serious damage it can do over a lifetime. Sadly however, these fantastic people are like gold dust, because the overwhelming experience that I have of CAFCASS’ knowledge of children and family separation mirrors that of the parents we met over the course of the past few days. It is basic, it is based upon foundation level social work theory and it is a bit like bringing in the auxiliary nurse when what you really need is the surgeon.”
“CAFCASS are trained using material researched by Trinder et al…those reports were written by people influenced by her..what she is telling us is that the people she has influenced, who have written reports on cases where enforcement was required, have decided that no enforcement was necessary and so, therefore, no enforcement is necessary… its an incestuous, circular, piece of nonsense which has sadly served to further reduce the effectiveness of the proposals in the bill to virtually zero and, has ensured that the enforcement that could have delivered a difference, has been dropped. She is truly a mistress of the sleight of hand and we are all daft for allowing it to continue. Shameful in my eyes.”
“I think that the pantomime of CAFCASS, driven as it is by blinkered people, is something that we may only get to grips with in years hence, when the children who have been so badly affected are able to have a voice. In so many ways it will be the scandal akin to the forced sending of people to other countries. No comfort for those who face the ineptitude of CAFCASS in the present I know.”
6 August 2013: “Child Led Parenting After Separation - The Madness that is Cafcass”
“Another ghastly government department is gearing up for its latest fiasco, yes folks, its the Voice of the Child Cafcass Conference in Birmingham. From the Cafcass website I read, with a sinking feeling, and wonder which bleeding heart liberal came up with this bright idea.”
“I despair of CAFCASS and its upper echelons, who plough onward into this child led nonsense as it if were the holy grail.”
“In the lofty branches at the top of the CAFCASS tree, there is a rather distorted sort of vision.”
“ Increasingly, because of our successful outcomes, individual CAFCASS workers are using our service. As we build up this work, we are entering the consciousness of CAFCASS through the side door, which has many benefits to families across the country.”
“It is not the first time and it won’t be the last that I have heard CAFCASS efforts to discredit me. Funnily enough though, I also hear CAFCASS speaking highly of me too so it can really be a matter of whether or not the individual CAFCASS officer likes what I say and do (or not). On some cases, where I disagree with a CAFCASS officer, it can be interpreted as ‘acting unprofessionally,’ all these things are subjective and as you say are not qualified. The thing about the court arena is that it is a small world, a stifled world really I suppose, in which gossip and bad mouthing are rife. I don’t think it is really useful unfortunately, to point uninitiated CAFCASS folk to my blog, especially if they are agin you in the first place. It takes quite a journey to get to where I have got to in terms of my thinking and many blocks and barriers in mind and practice have to be faced and dismantled before one can reach the conclusions rIt is a game J a lot of the time. Some CAFCASS officers are excellent in what they do and others are not, some like me some don’t, it depends a lot of the on their own experience and how they feel professionally. I have worked with some brilliant people from CAFCASS and some equally brilliant independent Guardians and some less than brilliant too.eached herein. Those who are schooled in feminist thought and women/good men/bad are likely to find it tough going first read on these pages.
That said I am not willing to not say these things. To not say them would be to not be the person that I am and to not stand up for the children who are so badly affected by the policies and practice which render them so vulnerable to loss of half of their heritage. One day, when the world has moved on, I think the way that we work at the Clinic will be standard and CAFCASS will understand that feminism is just a political doctrine not a universal truth.”
And in conversation with Vincent McGovern of Families Need Fathers below the line:
Vincent McGovern: “Unfortunately in the narrow stifled world of Cafcass and family courts there will always be the likelihood of desperate albeit tactically naive fathers eager to advance their cases by referring to blogs such as Karen’s when they meet unprofessional and biased personnel within the system. The more widely read these excellent blogs are the more they will be used in similar circumstances. Unintended consequences and all that.”
Karen Woodall: “Yes it is definitely tactically naive to refer professionals to this blog, it is for parents rather than professionals. The Clinic website is for professionals: http://www.familyseparationclinic.co.uk”
“It is a game a lot of the time. Some CAFCASS officers are excellent in what they do and others are not, some like me some don’t, it depends a lot of the on their own experience and how they feel professionally. I have worked with some brilliant people from CAFCASS and some equally brilliant independent Guardians and some less than brilliant too.”
“One word to sum up the idea of Anthony Douglas having anything to offer to LIP’s [litigants in person] – Horror. His comment says it all – blame to parent not the biased, jaundiced, sick system that parents are forced through and abused by. I could say more, you get my drift.”
“There does not appear to be any uniform training in CAFCASS around the problem in England – we have trained in Wales and Republic of Ireland but England remains resistant.”
21 November 2014``; “Another day, another waste of time and money?”
“Thanks to CG for alerting me to the announcement of a CAFCASS and Ministry of Justice initiative in the UK, something which causes alarm bells as well as cold shivers. The thought of CAFCASS running anything that is supposed to help separating parents actually does give me nightmares, reading this by Anthony Douglas increases that dread a hundred fold.”