Groundrules

We ask that all attendees to our events read and stick to our groundrules. These rules are an important part of making events like this possible and to ensure they are constructive and inclusive.

The ground rules :

  1. Respect the law regarding the confidentiality of care proceedings (the organisers will interpret this law with caution and their interpretation will be final for the purpose of the event);
  2. Allow speakers to speak without interruption;
  3. Raise any questions at the end of each session;
  4. Allow the chair / facilitator to decide who should speak and when, and to impose reasonable limits on the length and topic of individual contributions.
  5. Participate in any discussions with courtesy and respect for one another’s views; robust criticism is fine but abusive or personal remarks are, of course, not.
  6. We would ask that recordings are not made of the events and that photographs are not taken due to reporting restrictions preventing the identification of some attendees. We may audio or video record events. Please ask us about this if you are unsure.
  7. Participants may identify themselves by full or first name if they wish, but if they prefer may simply identify their role in the child protection system.
  8. We will not permit comments that appear in the view of the Chair to be discriminatory about any particular group of people, be that by reference to their race, religion or sexuality etc. We want to encourage free and open discussion within those limits so delegates are asked to keep that in mind and respect the decision of the Chair to use her discretion to move discussions on from any particular comment, to allow as many people as possible to directly join in.
  9. We cannot permit entry to or discussion of those who we are aware are currently engaged in / under investigation for criminal proceedings. However, we otherwise don’t plan to exclude anyone from the event based on their views; or their actions outside the event. Even where we may disagree with some of those views or actions.
  10. Attendance is in a personal capacity and, of course, doesn’t imply that anyone is speaking on behalf of any organisation they work for or are associated with.
  11. We will exclude anyone who doesn’t follow the ground rules of the event or intend to. This is to protect other participants, enable a wide range of voices without any dominating, and to ensure the conference isn’t disrupted or its aims distorted.
  12. We want people to live tweet and write about our events and we want to publish talks and papers and records of discussion wherever possible. To ensure we can do this it is important that the privacy of individuals is maintained and in particular that the anonymity of children is maintained. This means we can’t allow you to identify yourself or someone else as a parent of a child involved in a family court case; or to name the child involved in a court case; or to discuss the details of what has gone on in court in individual cases (unless the information is contained in a published judgment or a judge has specifically given permission). We ask that anyone wishing to discuss a case, in which they have been involved, should do so with regard to both the feelings of all involved and bearing in mind the law about protecting children involved in court cases. If any participant is unsure what they can discuss, they may ask a member of the organising committee who will attempt to assist. The committee will advise what they as organisers feel able to permit and believe is likely to be within the law, but cannot give legal advice.
  13. Although the event aims to share views and experiences of the current system, it is not and cannot be an inquiry into or an appeal from individual cases.