Children and Adoption Bill [HL]

I would like to look at these lengthy amendments in more detail, but I strongly support them in principle. I do so first because I recognise that the matters are easily polarised. I have looked at various sources on them over the summer, and spoken to practitioners working in the area whom I believe are sufficiently professional to stand back. There are clearly serious concerns in some families. In the evidence that my noble friend Lady Howarth gave, she described the background to many of the families as problematic; often drink or substance misuse can be a factor. Last time the issue came round, we discussed giving more guidance to judges on it. That is welcome, of course, but I visited a supervised contact centre that has dealings with the inner London family court. It said that it has good and close co-operation, and that its experience of judgments is very positive. However, the book of a Dr Roger Kennedy, an expert witness in family proceedings, states:"““While the best judges show a remarkable degree of fairness, wisdom, and knowledge of the issues, there remain those who think they are in a criminal court, that the complexities of family life can be dealt with by some sort of short, sharp shock””." There is a question of developing more expertise in the judiciary in dealing with those matters. It may be helpful to be more explicit in the Bill in the light of that. I say that with great hesitation, but it is such a serious issue that I hope that the Committee will forgive me saying something that might seem to cast aspersions unfairly. That expert is very experienced in the area.