MOVES have started in the Island for children affected by court proceedings through no fault of their own to have an independent voice.

The Deputy Bailiff, Michael Birt, has decided that children of a man sentenced to imprisonment be permitted to intervene on whether or not he should be deported, by having a separate lawyer to represent their rights.

A ruling has also come from the Bailiff, Sir Philip Bailhache, that lawyers appointed to act separately for children in this way could expect to receive some of their fees from taxpayers’ money in order to ensure that there were specialist and independent lawyers willing to take such cases on.

Advocate Tim Hanson (pictured) described Mr Birt’s decision as a ground-breaking recognition of the fact that just because children are involved, it does not mean that they do not have rights that need protecting. Advocate Hanson is calling for more recognition in the Island of the need to follow the example in the UK, and more recently in Guernsey, by appointing a separate lawyer and a specialist social worker, called a children’s guardian, to act for children, particularly in cases in which the child is taken into care.