Child Support Analysis

New Scheme applications, in 1000s

By end May 03

By end Aug 03

By end Nov 03

By end Feb 04

Total applications

48.6

126.2

217.1

290.5

Total calculations

2.5

20.8

52.3

79.8

Total closed/withdrawn

2.6

14.3

34.8

53.6

Work in progress

43.5

91.1

130

157.1

Number of NRPs who have made at least 1 payment of regular maintenance

0.1

3.3

13.1

25.6

Numbers of Old Scheme live cases, 1000s

Feb 00

Feb 01

Feb 02

Feb 03

Feb 04

Live cases on old computer system

1020.2

1050

1059.5

983.7

781.8

Cases transferred to new computer system

144

Total

1020.2

1050

1059.5

983.7

925.8

The aftermath of the cases that put innocent mothers into court & sometimes prison continues.

This is a reminder that the recent events that impacted Sally Clark, Trupti Patel, and Angela Cannings are not unique. They are the latest in a series of uses of junk science that separate parents from their children, sometimes permanently. Often it is junk "social science". Here are a few examples from the last decades.

“ Some children are born for the purpose of abuse and are not registered on birth certificates. ”

Valerie Sinason, consultant child psychologist at the Tavistock Clinic in London

“ It is astonishing that anyone would continue to give credence to the myth of "satanic ritual abuse", which has been utterly debunked here in the United States, where it originated, and in the UK.... Yet in the UK a group of earnest but pseudo-scientific "true believers" such as Valerie Sinason continue to promote belief in this absurdity....You compounded it by citing Sinason et al as "experts". They are as much experts as those who conducted the Inquisition were "experts" in identifying witches. ”

Mark Pendergrast, criticising The Independent

“ ... claims that the children themselves alleged Satanic and ritual abuse were false. The fact is that the small children didn't actually say these things. They said bits and pieces that were picked up by the adults. ”

Professor Jean La Fontaine

“ The situation is even worse when the doctor's opinion will itself influence the ultimate findings of the justice system. If Doctor X opines that a child has been molested, based on findings which in truth do not prove molest, a court will frequently rubber-stamp such an opinion. This judicial finding then becomes the confirmation which makes the doctor feel he can rely on his "experience." Such "confirmation" is, of course, scientifically meaningless. ”

Lee Coleman, IPT (Institute for Psychological Therapies ) Journal

“ Everyone knows that babies die at the hands of their parents by accident or in a fit of exhausted rage. But the evidence available puts it at less than 10 per cent. ”

George Haycock, professor of paediatrics at Guy's Hospital, London

Notorious cases supposedly about "Satanic and/or ritual abuse" have been at Rochdale, Cleveland, Nottingham, Orkneys, etc. Perhaps the retraining of social workers that followed the reports into these cases have resulted in few if any similar cases.

But a lack of critical thinking continues. The common theme among all of these appears to be a breakdown in critical thinking. This needs logic and the ability to step back and ask "what do we really know?"