Grandparents’ rights

SIR – It is good news indeed that grandparents may now be given positive rights in relation to their grandchildren (report, May 7).

For too long they have been treated by the family courts as outsiders. I recall attending one hearing in which there were two young children of two dysfunctional parents. The only and obvious hope for them lay with a caring and responsible grandmother and her husband.

Legal aid was available to enable each parent and the guardian and local authority to be represented by counsel. Not so the grandmother. She was allowed only the support of a volunteer from the Personal Support Unit, being myself. While treated with courtesy, she and her husband were excluded from participation in the proceedings.

His Honour Bertram Maddocks Ormskirk, Lancashire