Thursday 8 January 2015

Family Courts are intimidating places for people with learning disabilities

The Family Court Support toolsCreative Treatment by Jon Bryant based on an idea from The Dudley Advocacy

copyright Jon Bryant 2015


The desire to find a partner in life and to have children is part of what it is to be human, it is a fundamental right we all take for granted. Society is built around the human need to have children and become a family unit, for many it is the single most important ambition in life, to be in a loving relationship and have children. This is a fundamental human right we all take for granted.
Life can be very different if you have a learning disability, society can intervene if there are concerns that your ability to be a competent parent is in doubt.

People with learning disabilities have learning disabilities, they do not by default have a feeling disability and experience the same emotions of joy and sadness that we do in response to events and circumstances in life.
If as a result of a loving and affectionate relationship involving people with learning disabilities a child comes along, this is where society intervenes and triggers the involvement of the state. Its seeks to protect the interests of the child first, will the parents with their support network be fit and able to raise a child with all that entails?

Learning disabilities can be in a range from profound to just a mild intellectual impairment so the State has to make decisions based on an assessment of their competency to provide and care for the child as a family unit.
To better understand how that is for a couple with a learning disability, putting ourselves in their shoes is a very valuable exercise in how best to support them in reaching the right outcomes and life choices.

Let’s imagine you have found someone, a soul mate, the person you want to share your life with, these are universal feelings, no different from a parent living in a remote tribe in the rain forest. It has nothing to do with education or the ability to learn, it is instinctive. The tribe’s people may not have made the connection that sex makes babies, but are still perfectly capable of being great parents with all the joy that brings.

The loss of a child is no less traumatic and life changing because they are uneducated and lead simple lives.

Imagine this…
Your partner becomes pregnant or perhaps you have already had child with whom you have bonded and has become the centre of your world. Then one day you are told you have to go to the Family Courts because “people” have decided that they need to make a decision about your children.
Imagine that Family Court was somewhere in a foreign land, where you did not understand much of the language or the rules, the court from the outside  looked like a prison or police station with all the security guards at the entrance. When the burly uniformed guards after looking for guns, knives and explosives with scanners let you in, then you were taken to a room full of strangers.

There are one or two of the people you do recognise, people who have visited you at home who seemed really friendly and always asked you questions and got you to show them how you did things.  It’s hard to understand everything they say but they seem to be saying that you and your partner are not able to look after your child properly even with the help you get.

In the room which is totally unfamiliar and scary, as it has nothing comforting or homely around it reminds you of a hospital, but smells very different, there is also a person called the Judge, you remember from the TV that Judges lock nasty people up in prison for doing bad things, you get very anxious that perhaps you have done something wrong.

By now you’re very nervous, unsettled, struggling to understand what people are saying and when someone asks you a question all the strangers in the room stare at you.  Your mouth goes dry, you feel shaky and unhappy. You know what you say seems to be important to everyone but the whole experience has left you so anxious you can’t find the right words, after all you have never spoken in public before. Your are scared that  if you said the wrong thing they will take your child away, or maybe stop you seeing your best friend in the world.

Be honest if this happened to you tomorrow in a foreign court in a foreign land with laws and processes you were unfamiliar with how frightening would that be?

How well you be able to “speak for yourself” in such an intimidating set of circumstances? 

How would you feel if in not being able to express yourself because you were petrified and confused, meant your baby or toddler was as a result taken from you forever? Even if you were OK about it how do you console your distraught partner.

Our Aims
This project seeks to address the issues raised above, Family Courts frequently have to make rulings on the fitness of couples with learning disabilities to bring up children and this can result in children being removed.
A vital part of that decision making process is the Judge weighing up the information provided by social workers and carers, gaining some insight into the parents themselves, their life circumstances, aspirations, understanding and capabilities.
There will be occasions where the parent’s contribution to the proceedings will directly affect the final outcome, if you couldn't say what you wanted to when it mattered.

Family Court or Fortress?
Family Courts deal with family matter, so are already very different from other courts setting and much has been done to make them as “unintimidating” as possible so they are typically less formal.

However for a person with a learning disability just the building itself may appear deeply intimidating. What you and I accept as part of everyday life  by way of burly uniformed security guards, with their squealing hand held metal detectors and security arches we have to walk through one at a time to enter buildings is totally alien and frightening for them.
So just getting in to the Family Court building will challenge some in extreme ways that it’s very hard for us to comprehend, ask those with a fear of flying or agoraphobia about the profound ways their ”phobias” affect them, this is no different.

Awareness and understanding
It’s fair to say that virtually everyone attending a Family Court has good comprehension of why they having to go there, what has lead to it, what is to be ruled on, and what the likely outcomes might be dependent on the Judge’s ruling be they good or bad.
For a couple with learning disabilities gaining this understanding of the process is a challenge in itself, this is another area the tools will address. Booklets in Easy Read format are in our opinion helpful but there is a far more effective and comprehensive approach we are promoting.

In order to make Family Courts less intimidating and more learning disability friendly there are many things to address, it is a process of education and familarisation not confined the just the parents attending court.
The aims of this project go beyond the parents to the Courts themselves, rising awareness and educating ALL court staff from the security people to the Judge about the things they can do to make the visit to the Court a less stressful and intimidating experience for the parents.

A good model for this is what cinemas have done to make movies accessible and autism friendly. The screenings take in to account the things autistic people experience and react badly to, so lights are left on, soundtracks are turned down and if they wish they can spend time in the cinema prior to the screening to become at ease with their surroundings.

These are simple measures that cost virtually nothing, are easy to implements and utterly transform the moving going experience for the autistic person allowing them perhaps for the first time in their lives to see the movies their friends have.

The unfamiliar and unknown is far more stressful for many people with learning disabilities, so familiarisation is a corner stone of our approach.

Probable Format
At this early stage prior to research we envisage the tools will come in the form of a downloadable “app” with access to the various video elements. It may also be made to work on a menu driven DVD. The production format would allow us to add bespoke media to personalize it to the Family Court in the borough.
To make the tools properly accessible for the parents I will be drawing on my experience in creating and using visual languages to enhance communications of complex subjects for learning disabled people as well as many years in mainstream video production and direction.

The recourses we want to create have two objectives and two audiences.
1)    To, train and facilitate Family Court staff to make the courts and the court proceedings less intimidating and more accessible for learning disabled parents.
2)    To provide tools that all the agencies involved (social workers etc) in the lives of the parents, including their carers and families. It would be used prior to the hearing and also on the day to support and  familiarise the parents making the unknown a known and to help them feel safe and at ease to “speak for themselves in court” and to arrive there with an understanding of the process. The other important job is to ensure that the strange surroundings and security do not overwhelm them before events have even begun.


For the Parents
By producing a range of short informal video interviews featuring a Judge, court staff including security people who will talk about their jobs, they become familiar, reassuring the viewer that they are real people who want to help.
“I am the security man our job is to make sure you are safe while you are here, keep your eye open for my smiley face badge, here is my scanner I call him Rover after my dog” ….“I am the judge we are not scary people, I am always very friendly to speak to and I really do want to listen to what you have to say, so if you are nervous I understand I won’t rush you I am here to help as I want what is best for you”

For the court staff
This will be a short video based programme designed to convey how the whole experience of a day in court is experienced by people with learning disabilities and the things they can do to help, like smiling, taking a bit more time to explain things, and possibly overcoming a little stigma en route.

Practical Measures
I am developing a range of concepts where little things could be done, maybe the Security Guard wears a smiley face badge, the portable scanner has a name, the judge and court staff and others present each have a card in front to them, not names but colours and shapes about postcard size. These will tie back into the interviews where the card will be established so the parents know the red triangle is the Judge, the green square is the social worker etc.
They will be established early on within the interviews as little reassurances.  It will be easy for the advocate of social worker to have a simple map on paper or a tablet so that the parents understand who is who within the courtroom when they are speaking.

Production
On the filming side we need to shoot a range of interviews, the judge for example might benefit from being interviewed at home, informally over a cup of tea in the kitchen, this will help the viewer see that they are just regular people who have a job called “Judge”.  Court staff might take us on an informal tour of the court room so people know what to expect, perhaps the enlightened courts would allow access prior to parents appearing for them to overcome some of the fears and feel more at ease.

The second part of the filming might be with the parents with learning disabilities and people in their lives talking about some of the things they struggle with, I want to let court staff see life through their eyes to engender empathy and understanding.

We want them to “own” the responsibility as a team to make their court building learning disabled friendly. With a little planning I am sure having allotted times in their schedule where cases involving learning disabled people are heard would be the best way forwards in the interest of all parties.

The APP, we need this to work on iPads, tablets and laptops, and with or without an internet connection.  The tool itself is not complex in structure nor is it feature rich, it needs to work for all, so a person with a mild learning disability should be able to use it independently. Or if help is needed work through it with their social worker, support team carers or family who may not always be skilled at such things. Most people can use a DVD.

copyright Jon Bryant 2015