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Letter of Support from Mr Justice Gillen

Dear Colleague,

I am pleased to advise you that the above project, commissioned by The Children Order Advisory Committee (COAC) and sponsored by DHSSPS, is being conducted by Dr Emma Larkin and Dr Dominic McSherry of The Institute of Child Care Research (ICCR), Queen’s University Belfast.

The COAC Best Practice Guide for Children Order proceedings is intended to guide practitioners and experts and to promote efficiency, effectiveness and economy in the management of Children Order cases.  It is essential that the Best Practice Guidance is an up to date, useful and relevant resource. The COAC Best Practice Guidance Standing Committee is currently undertaking a periodic review of the Guidance in order to ensure that it reflects changing times and new developments in practice and procedure. In order to achieve this we need to find out from the professionals who use it in their day to day work how it can best be improved.

As Chairman of COAC, I particularly welcome this project which will assist us in our task of ensuring that the Guidance is optimally useful for practitioners. This project aims to establish:

  • the extent to which the Guidance is being used as a reference tool 
  • practitioners views and experiences regarding the perceived usefulness of the Guidance 
  • the impact of the Guidance on Children Order proceedings 
  • practitioners suggestions for potential amendments and/or additions to the Guidance.

It is the ICCR Project Team’s intention to carry out an electronic survey which they hope to have completed by the 5th January 2007.  I would urge all practitioners involved in Children Order proceedings to complete this survey and return it promptly as it is essential that as many professionals as possible have an opportunity to input into the review process. 

To access this survey directly please refer to the following link, complete the questionnaire and press 'Submit' button towards the bottom of the page. If you are willing to participate in a brief follow-up telephone interview please indicate this on the form. 

 http://www.qub.ac.uk/home/Surveys/rbpg/

I hope, and indeed, would encourage you to engage with the ICCT Project Team in taking forward this work for the benefit of the spectrum of professionals involved in Children Order proceedings and particularly for the children and families they work with.

Yours sincerely

Mr Justice Gillen
Chairman of the Children Order Advisory Committee