DUTY TO CHILDREN

The government needs to provide adequate resources for child protection and family justice systems, Alistair MacDonald, co-chairman of the Association of Lawyers for Children, told the association’s annual conference last week. He said the government should honour its duty to vulnerable children, adding that proposed reforms to family legal aid and chronic under-resourcing of the family justice system constituted an “unprecedented threat” to access to justice for children and families. Referring to the death of Victoria Climbié, he said society is entitled to expect the government to “take all steps necessary to prevent its youngest and most vulnerable citizens from falling”.