Four in four parents involved with the CSA now pay for their children voluntarily, according to statistics from the Department  for Work and Pensions (DWP). Meanwhile, the number of unwilling parents who have had child support deducted directly from their earnings has fallen by 20 per cent over the last five years.

Work and Pensions Minister Steve Webb said:

“We now live in a society where paying for your children after a break-up is the norm ….Britain is moving from relying on a divisive and unpopular state child maintenance service to parents working together for the sake of their children.”

The minister also announced a reduction in the charge levied on parents who use the new Child Maintenance Service to pursue their former partners for support – from 7 to 4 per cent. The charge levied on the paying parent will remain 20 per cent.

He said:

“Having a charge for using the CMS will provide a nudge to parents to try to sort things out for themselves if they can.”

 Photo of DWP building in Leeds by Chemical Engineer via Wikipedia

Julian Stevenson’s two children, aged five and ten, were killed during their first unsupervised visit to his flat in Lyon on Saturday afternoon.

According to reports, Stevenson was later seen fleeing the apartment building on rollerskates dressed in bloodstained clothes.

He has now been placed ‘under investigation’ for the murders, The Guardian reports – the equivalent under French law of being charged with the crime. He will undergo a psychiatric examination.

Stevenson and his French wife Stephanies separated three years ago amidst allegations of domestic violence. Following the couple’s acrimonious divorce, Stevenson was allowed only restricted access to his children prior to last weekend. He had reportedly refused to sell the jointly owned flat in which the children’s bodies were found.

A neighbour said he had appeared “a bit unstable” following the divorce. Another neighbour told journalists that he had been seen the man out with his children on Saturday morning:

“He was wearing a T-shirt and shorts and the children were smiling and happy. They appeared to be enjoying a day out with their dad. He bought them little presents, including sweets and did not appear to be upset in any way.”

Photo of Lyon by Larry Claude via Wikipedia under a Creative Commons licence

Our team tumblr is a Stowe Family Law news channel, serving up the latest images and insights from all five of our offices – in Harrogate, Leeds, Hale, Wilmslow, and London. Our team members are posting about new appointments, their latest achievements, noteworthy business wins and glimpses into their everyday working lives. We are a hardworking bunch, but sometimes I think that we could be making more of our successes. So that is what we are doing here – in Technicolour! Brimming with pictures, videos and audio clips, the Stowe Family Law tumblr is about as far removed from an old-fashioned “Company News” webpage as it could be.

We are publishing short posts from all five of our offices. As with this blog, if there is anything you would like to see featured on the Stowe Family Law tumblr, please leave a comment to let me know.

This morning’s topic was civil partnerships and whether they should be extended to heterosexual couples. Later today, the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill returns to Parliament for a further round of voting. As many as 100 Tory MPs are expected to rebel against the government and vote in favour of an amendment which would extend civil partnerships in such a way. Predictably the government is not very happy about the prospect.

Woman’s Hour presenter Jane Garvey wanted to know what I thought of the prospect. I see civil partnerships as a stopgap, something brought in to give same-sex couples the right to enter a relationship similar to marriage, but one that remains distinct from it.

But now we have moved on.  People have begun to recognise that civil partnerships are not really the same as marriage. If you go abroad and say you are in a civil partnership, it may not be recognised whereas a marriage always will. So the government is trying to introduce a law that will give same-sex people the  right to get married. I applaud that. I am a great believer in marriage. But if and when gay marriage enters law, I think civil partnership are in danger of becoming redundant as a concept – a distinction that no longer really needs to be made. And where is the equality in  giving gay couples a choice that heterosexual ones do not have?

Some couples do not like the institution of conventional marriage  and so are attracted to concept of civil partnership. Some European countries do offer such arrangements, and they sit neatly alongside civil marriage laws. But here in this country, where religious marriage is still possible, civil partnerships for all may be a step too far for many, something that devalues the institution of marriage.

Meanwhile there is another area of relationship law that is arguably in much more urgent need of reform. Lots and lots of people are living together, and I think we are direly need of some sort of cohabitation law, similar to those available in the Netherlands and France: a limited form of civil partnership for couples where are living together, in which each has certain rights over property and assets if the relationship comes to an end. Limited rights yes, but limited rights are better than the void currently available to  cohabiting couples.

I hope MPs vote in favour of the bill tonight. In my view marriage is the cornerstone of society and if people want to get married they should certainly be allowed to do so, whether they are heterosexual or gay. But I do think marriage for all will leave civil partnerships in limbo.

The government is braced for a significant Tory rebellion during the bill’s third reading later today. As many as 100 Tory MPs could vote for the ‘wrecking’ amendment and ministers are worried that they will joined by a significant number of Labour MPs during the free vote.

The latest warnings are aimed principally at  Labour leader Ed Miliband, claims The Guardian. A source told the paper:

“Ed Miliband clearly wants to make political capital. Perhaps he should think of the consequences.”

Equalities Minister Maria Miller told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that the amendment would cause “significant challenges”.

“Obviously, it would be for us to go through a consultation and a consideration period to understand how that would work because at the moment there really isn’t the detail there … It throws up a headache because those that remember the issues round the civil partnership bill will remember it took some two years to finalise.”

Civil partnerships for heterosexual couples would increase state liability for pension payments, the government says, and necessitate the careful planning of a new form of civil partnerships, delaying the bill by 18 to 24 months.

The government also believes civil partnerships for heterosexual couples would also muddle the argument it has used with opponents – that it strengthens the institution of marriage by opening it  to everyone.

Tory MP Tim Loughton tabled the amendment in March. He dismissed the government warnings:

“The government has come up with a lot of desperate last minute excuses as to why giving full equality of civil partnerships will not work. That’s what happens when you try to redefine marriage without having thought through the consequences.”

Photo by Neil&Claire via Flickr under a Creative Commons licence

Isabelle Trowler is a highly experienced social worker who “transformed” children’s services in Hackney, the Department for Education reports. In her new role she lead reforms which will affect the entire profession, the government says.

In addition, a new fast-track social work training scheme called Frontline will be aimed at the “highest achieving” graduates.

The Education Secretary said:

“Good social workers literally save lives; the bad can leave them in ruins. I am delighted that Isabelle Trowler has agreed to lead our reform programme, to challenge as well as to champion the profession so that vulnerable children and families are better protected.

I am also very pleased to announce our support for Frontline, an exciting proposal and a real challenge for the brightest applicants who will have the privilege and satisfaction of helping to improve the lives of the most vulnerable children in the country.”

Isabelle Trowler, who helped develop the Frontline curriculum, added:

“I know the best social work can transform lives but too often we only hear about the things that go wrong. I want to raise standards throughout the profession so that every social work team in the country is as good as the best.”

She added:

“Children’s social work is one of the hardest jobs a person can accept, and offers a unique opportunity to work with the most vulnerable families in the country. I am very excited by the opportunity I have to champion social work as well as challenge the profession, its employers and educators too, to deliver the very best for families.”

Photo by James Delaney via Flickr under a Creative Commons licence

A woman who became pregnant via anonymous donation in Denmark has been refused child support by a Leipzig court – because the state would have no way of recovering the money.

The woman gave birth to a boy in 2005 and would normally be entitled to child support payments from the state because the child’s father had no involvement. But under German law, state child support is supposed to be advance on money later taken from the absent father.

The Federal Administrative Court declared that the woman had “consciously and willingly from the start onwards, stymied the identification of the other, support-liable parent.”

According to a report on The Local, German law currently prohibits the paying of child support where the mother refuses to identify the father, and this should also apply to mothers who conceive via sperm donation the court ruled.

“The granting of support as a replacement service should be [the exception in cases where] resort to the other parent is not possible.”

In a similar case, the same court recently declared that a gay man who donated sperm to help a lesbian couple conceive could challenge the decision to name another man as the father.

The court said the man not forfeited his right to be declared father of the child like anonymous sperm donors.

Photo of the Federal Administrative Court in Germany by André Karwath via Wikipedia under a Creative Commons licence 

The 41 year-old singer-songwriter – a former member of influential band Seo Taiji and Boys – is to marry actress Lee Eun Song, 24, best known for her role in Korean TV drama Sharp 1.

The Seoul-born performer met the actress on the set of a music video, later writing on his website:

“I have found my partner and am about to marry her. Eun Sung is a good person whose warmth makes me and everyone else smile.”

Leo told the media that she had been a fan of his music before meeting the performer.

“I’ve liked his music for a long-time but I never thought I would get a chance to meet him in person. While I was on the set of his music video I saw the way he treated everyone and I thought to myself, ‘he’s a decent guy.’”

Fans of the singer were aghast when it emerged in 2011 that he had been secretly married to another actress, Lee Ji-ah, for nine years. The couple lived in Arizona and had two children but kept the marriage completely secret. He filed for divorce in 2006, citing differences in personality and lifestyle but this was also not reported in the media, and the news only emerged when Lee sued Seo for maintenance and her share of the matrimonial assets in January 2011. They reached a settlement in August that year.

Since the breakup of Seo Taiji and Boys in 1996, the singer has pursued a successful solo career. Such is his influence that some fans refer to him as ‘the President of Culture’.

Photo of Gangnam in Seoul by Duesride via Wikipedia under a Creative Commons licence 

Brenda Heist, now 54, vanished from her home in  Lititz, Pennsylvania, in February 2002, after taking her children, then aged eight and 12, to school. Eleven years and three months later, a woman called Kelsie Lyanne Smith walked into Florida police station and revealed that she was in fact the missing Brenda Heist.

She had felt under pressure due to an impending divorce from husband Lee, she explained, and also had financial problems. On the day of her disappearance, she had been crying in the local park when she was approached by some homeless people who told her she could come with them to Florida, the Mail reports.

Interviewed while held in jail on outstanding warrants, a tearful Heist told Dr Phil McGraw:

“I just kept saying to myself, “[The children] are better off without me”.

She continued:

“I don’t know if I’ve ever stopped crying and started living, to be honest with you,” adding that she would “have a hard time forgiving myself for what I’ve done.”

The popular TV psychologist told Today:

“When I first sat down with her, she was in complete and utter meltdown. I mean full body tremors, shaking, and not because of the interview but because she was getting ready to have to come to grips with what she had done.”

The runaway now regrets revealing herself, he added, believing she is burdening her family and upsetting her children.

Dr Phil believes Heist may have “serious issues with regard to forming the normal bonds and attachments that people would normally do. How else can you leave a child, eight and 12, and never call within 11 years?”

According to reports, Heist has had no contact with her children since she reappeared. Her daughter Morgan, eight at the time of her mother’s disappearance, told Pennsylvania TV station WCAU:

“It’s not that I hate her. I just think she doesn’t deserve to be in my life at this point.”

The interview will be shown on Monday’s edition of the Dr Phil Show.

Photo of Dr Phil by House Committee on Education and the Workforce Democrats  via Flickr under a Creative Commons licence

The amendment has been put forward in response to proposals that civil partnerships be scrapped or extended to opposite sex couples. A review five years after the legislation enters law would allow the effect of gay marriage to be properly assessed, the government believes.

Equalities Minister Maria Miller said:

“The Equal Marriage Bill is about extending marriage to same-sex couples. Questions have been raised about whether we should also extend civil partnerships to opposite-sex couples.  There are strong views on both sides of this debate, and we have listened to those views.  We are therefore offering the House the opportunity to have a review of this area, rather than legislating now without the required evidence.”

Meanwhile, controversial Tory MP Tim Loughton is thought to be planning a separate amendment which would extend civil partnerships to heterosexual couples, as the bill approaches its third reading in the Commons on May 20.

Gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell called on MPs to rebel during the reading and support the Loughton amendment. He told Gay Star News:

“The government’s decision to oppose the legalisation of civil partnerships for heterosexual couples is hugely disappointing. It is a sad betrayal of the principle of equality. I hope a majority of MPs will rebel and next week vote for the parliamentary amendment top open up civil partnerships to opposite sex couples.”

Earlier this week, Maria Miller told a parliamentary subcommittee that extending civil partnerships to opposite sex couples was neither “a necessity or a requirement”.

Photo by Alberto Garcia via Flickr under a Creative Commons licence