I have been contacted by the Petitions Committee of the National Assembly and been advised that the petition I submitted in 2009 for a Charter for Grandchildren has now been closed and is no longer under consideration. The reason I have been given is that events have overtaken the terms of the petition.

The petition in 2009 covered a lot of the improvements in Family Law that subsequently followed with different amendments and attitudes to children’s paramount interests and in Family Court procedures.

I am convinced that had the need for a charter for children been accepted in 2009 it would have evolved as well and perhaps could have been incorporated in the Children Rights in Wales as a code of conduct to enforce what children themselves wanted and signed up for, to strengthen their positions and that of their parents and grandparents, children’s agencies, organisations and the courts.

I am in receipt of support for that charter from parents and grandparents and it will be discussed with the charity in the near future.

The question is, are children in a better place in 2015 than they were in 2009

 http://llandudno.fnf-bpm.org.uk

 grandparentsapartwales.co.uk