https://researchingreform.net/2021/12/08/disgraced-family-court-psychiatrist-blasts-childrens-social-care-on-us-radio-show/Disgraced family court psychiatrist blasts children’s social care on US radio show
08 Wednesday Dec 2021
Posted by Natasha in Researching Reform
A former leading family court psychiatrist who stepped down from his role after facing serious misconduct allegations, has criticised Britain’s child social care system on a US radio show.
George Hibbert came to the public’s attention in 2012 when news outlets reported concerning unethical conduct allegations from work colleagues, and parents he treated at his clinic in Tadpole Cottage.
The allegations included deliberately producing biased reports for councils who then used those reports to take children from mothers, and put them up for adoption.
Hibbert stepped down from his practice shortly after the allegations were brought to the media’s attention in what was viewed at the time as a bid to avoid being investigated. However, he underwent an investigation by the General Medical Council in 2014, which set aside the allegations due to a lack of evidence.
In what appeared to be an attempt at trying to exact revenge on the mothers who testified against him as service users of his clinic at Tadpole Cottage, Hibbert then tried to become an intervenor in the lead mother’s case in order to make her private medical records and other documents public. The application was thrown out by the family courts.
Following his decision to step down from practice Hibbert has since tried to launch several projects including an evidence storing app for parents going through children’s social care proceedings called On Record which could allow Hibbert and his partner Jill Canvin, a former family law solicitor, to access potentially sensitive and confidential information about parents’ and children’s cases.
Researching Reform reached out to Hibbert and Canvin in 2018 to ask them about the app, but they refused to answer any of our questions which included how the app had been funded, how many service users the app had, and whether or not they had access to users’ confidential files and documents.
In an apparent effort to plug the On Record app, Hibbert and Canvin appeared on an online US radio talk show called Dads Surviving Divorce (DSD) in December 2020, which describes itself on its YouTube channel as “focused on helping people survive when divorcing a narcissistic ex when kids are involved.”
The talk show host seems completely unaware of Canvin and Hibbert’s professional pasts, and of Hibbert’s serious misconduct hearing at the GMC.
The segment for the radio show featuring Hibbert and Canvin is entitled, “Proving your case in the UK ft. George Hibbert & Jill Canvin,” and includes discussions about personality disorders, social services and the couple’s On Record app.
During the interview Hibbert questions the quality of social work in Britain, while Canvin criticises judicial bias inside the system. Neither Hibbert or Canvin address any of the malpractice allegations made against Hibbert during his professional career or why he chose to step down after the GMC hearing.
Many thanks to Janie Doe for alerting us to this development.
