Duty To Question

We need to talk about this!

Guest speaker Jane Fenton Professor Emeritus talks about her research and teaching on the importance of open discussion and challenge  in social work teaching and practice. Jane is joined by Emma Darling and Nicki Benge both fairly recently qualified social workers in practice in England. 

Transitioning Children - What have the courts said? and what advice have they been given?

How have the courts ruled on cases brought in the English family courts? Following the ethical approval of the Pathways Trial which could see children as young as 10 receive puberty blockers,Sarah Phillimore, barrister in the family courts, and staunch defender of free speech and children and families rights, and Charlies Plummer, formerly CAFCASS, now independent social worker, joined Maggie Mellon of EBSWA to discuss the current state of case law and the legality of CAFCASS's current guidance to its staff and to independent Guardians ad Litem reporting to the courts.  Following this discussion, with Sarah's support,  EBSWA will now be investigating ways to challenge the CAFCASS guidance. 

How Data Collection on Sex and Gender Has Gone Wrong with Alice Sullivan

In this episode, we speak with professor Alice Sullivan. Alice is a professor of sociology at University College London and was recently commissioned by the government to lead a review into the collection of data pertaining to sex and gender. She has also edited the book Sex and Gender: A Contemporary Reader.Within the discussion, we cover the ways in which sex and gender data becomes unclear, why this is bad for everyone, how it can be improved, and some of the unexpected and shocking safeguarding concerns that were raised by the review.

Can a blanket affirmative approach be in a child's best interests?

EBSWA podcast, discussing how and why the best interests of the child principle has been forgotten by the  "affirmative" approach to gender identity in children. Robin Carling, Maggie Mellon and Miriam 

Disability: When Gender Identity Provides Relief From Reality

An Evidence Based Social Work Alliance Podcast, EBSWA's Robin Carling which George Fielding, disability rights campaigner, Sarah Philimore, barrister in the family courts, and Miriam a children's social worker discuss the impact of disability on development of sexuality and how embracing gender identity can offer distraction from realities of disability”.

The impact on children's services of the Supreme Court ruling on the meaning of S*x in the Equality ActAct

Stephanie Davies Arai, founder and director of Transgender Trend in conversation with Robin Carling of EBSWA on the likely or hoped for impact of the recent Supreme Court ruling (FWS V Scottish Government) that S*x means biological s*x and is not changed by a Gender Recognition Certificate or by any process of gender reassignment. What should  this mean for children's services?