New Family Court comes into being must visit

A review found that vulnerable children were having their "futures undermined" by excessive delays New combined Family Courts have come into being in England and Wales as part of family justice system reforms.

The plan also includes new time frames for cases where children are taken into care and compulsory mediation awareness sessions for separating couples.

Justice Minister Simon Hughes said it was "a hugely important change" to what had been a "very dysfunctional system".

Sir James Munby, President of the Family Division, said the changes were the biggest in a lifetime.

Range of shortcomings

There are about 270,000 new family cases each year dealing with issues such as local authority intervention, divorce, domestic violence and adoption.

Continue reading the main story Clive Coleman Legal correspondent, BBC News

Removing a child from its parents and placing it in local authority care, is arguably the most draconian thing that the state does to a family. It is critical that care proceedings are conducted as comprehensively and efficiently as possible in the courts.

Babies, toddlers and teenagers going through care proceedings have been removed from their parents for their own well being and are seeking a decision on a permanent and secure home. The Family Justice Review in 2011 found care cases taking on average 56 weeks.

The new 26-week time limit should mean speedier and better outcomes for vulnerable children. But there are risks. If a biological parent is on a drug or alcohol rehabilitation programme lasting a year, it is unclear whether the time limit for the care case will be extended.

There is a power to extend the 26-week period if it is necessary to resolve the case justly, but this is new law and no one quite knows how it will be applied.

A review carried out in 2011 found that vulnerable children were having their "futures undermined" by excessive delays, with care and supervision cases taking an average of 56 weeks.

Although that has come down, the reforms address a range of shortcomings. They include rules to ensure:

Care cases are normally completed within six months in a single Family Court, which replaces the current three-tier court system in family casesSeparating couples must attend a mediation awareness session before taking disputes over their finances or their children to courtLimits on the amount of expert evidence that can be used in cases involving children, only being permitted when it is necessary to resolve the case justly

There are also changes to the way in which children are dealt with in family cases, with the abolition of labels such as "residence" and "contact", which were thought to focus on the rights of parents rather than the needs of the child.

The changes are also intended to ensure the right level of judge is appointed for a particular Family Court case, and that it is held in the most suitable location.

Justices' clerks and their assistants will be authorised to assist all judges across the Family Court.

'Cultural revolution'

BBC legal correspondent Clive Coleman said: "The new 26-week time limit should mean speedier and better outcomes for vulnerable children. But there are risks.

"There is a power to extend the 26-week period if it is necessary to resolve the case justly, but this is new law and no one quite knows how it will be applied."

Sir James Munby said: "Today marks the largest reform of the family justice system any of us have seen or will see in our professional lifetimes.

"Taken as a whole, these reforms amount to a revolution. There has been, indeed there had to be, a fundamental change in the cultures of the family courts. This is truly a cultural revolution.

"I have visited every care centre to see for myself how it is taking shape.

"These visits have brought home to me just how enthusiastically and with such determination and commitment everybody in the family justice system has embraced the process of reform: local authorities, Cafcass (Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service), court staff, judges (in whom, of course, I include the magistrates), justices' clerks and the legal professions."

Family Justice Minister Simon Hughes told the BBC that under the previous system "the battle over children went on for weeks and weeks and months and months absolutely against the interests of the child".

The new rules would provide "security and certainty", he predicted, and would prevent children being "moved from pillar to post".

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Obamacare Deadline Safety Valve Comes In Handy As Website Buckles/must visit

  The online application of Reginald Wright stalls as he attempts to sign up for health insurance on HealthCare.gov at the Atlanta Medical Center South Campus on Monday, the deadline for the open enrollment period. | AP Photo/David Goldman

The latest tweak to the Obamacare deadline came in handy Monday when HealthCare.gov buckled during the rush by millions to sign up for health insurance by the original midnight cutoff.

Americans seeking to obtain health coverage at the last minute, and avoid tax penalties for remaining uninsured, flooded exchange websites and telephone lines Monday, with a record 3 million visits to Healthcare.gov and 1 million phone calls as of 8 p.m., according to the Department of Health and Human Services.

Federal officials said last week that people who couldn't enroll because of problems with HealthCare.gov would have more time to sign up. Some state-run health insurance exchanges offered similar flexibility for people who started applications prior to the March 31 deadline.

"There will be an opportunity for those who have initiated the process but aren’t able to finish it by midnight tonight to ensure that they get signed up for health insurance," White House press secretary Jay Carney said Monday. "If they start, they’ll be able to finish."

The intense interest in getting covered before the midnight deadline exposed the vulnerability of HealthCare.gov and exchange websites like Covered California and Maryland Health Connection throughout the day. HealthCare.gov went down early Monday, its account-creation system failed during the afternoon and a "virtual waiting room" deployed several times when users stretched the website's capacity.

Although the President Barack Obama's administration and authorities in states such as California and Connecticut didn't technically extend the deadline for the end of the six-month sign-up period for private insurance via the exchanges, would-be enrollees snarled by technical problems can continue to enroll over the coming weeks, the administration said Wednesday.

Glitches on Monday were a far cry from the disaster that occured from when HealthCare.gov launched Oct. 1 through late November, and multiple readers told The Huffington Post that they'd successfully signed up. Others, however, were left without the coverage they sought.

Kelly O'Donnell, 35, of Greensboro, N.C., has been struggling to get an application filed for nearly a week and had no more luck Monday than before. When O'Donnell visited HealthCare.gov Monday, she was greeted by the virtual waiting room and opted to enter her email address to get notified when the website was ready to take on more users. But when the message arrived, the website still didn't work.

"I have used three different browsers and every time I am able to login but it takes me to a blank page," O'Donnell wrote in an email to HuffPost. Initially, O'Donnell worried she'd be subject to tax penalties for violating the Affordable Care Act's individual mandate that most Americans obtain health coverage, but now will give it another shot after the deadline.

"We're trying to start a family this year, so I definitely need health insurance," O'Donnell said by telephone.

The Obama administration hasn't said when the "special enrollment period" will end for people in the 36 states using the federal health insurance exchanges. State-run exchange policies vary and the extra time will extend as late as April 30 in Oregon. Health insurance exchanges like New York State of Health, Vermont Health Connect, Maryland Health Connection, AccessHealth CT in Connecticut, and Covered California took to social media to promote the extra time for those who couldn't complete their applications by midnight.

In spite of the problems, others reported the website and enrollment process functioned smoothly.

Oklahoma City resident Louis Dollarhide, 62, spent 45 minutes on HealthCare.gov Monday morning and encountered no difficulties, he told HuffPost in a telephone interview. "It just clicks right through. I thought it was very straightforward, and I'm not a tech geek at all," he said.

Dollarhide has been uninsured since his previous employer closed four years ago. Now self-employed, he has been unable to afford new coverage because he has a condition called hereditary hemochromatosis that causes high levels of iron in the blood. "It's very easy to manage but it freaks these insurance companies out."

"I had a pre-existing condition, and so when I would get quotes for insurance, it was just astronomical. And I've always been in good health, even though I have this strange deal. It never causes any problems," Dollarhide said. An insurer once quoted him a $800 monthly premium, which was more than he could pay, he said. Health insurance companies can neither turn down people with pre-existing conditions nor charge them higher rates than healthy people under the Affordable Care Act.

Using HealthCare.gov, Dollarhide signed up for a "silver" plan, the second-lowest level of coverage available on the exchanges, for $289 a month, including tax credits that reduced his costs. Asked why he waited until the last day of the enrollment period to shop, Dollarhide replied: "Laziness and procrastination."

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