On 30 March, The Guardian published this editorial:
‘The Guardian view on family justice: transparency should help a flawed system to improve. Increased openness is a change for the better. But cuts have made the courts’ work far harder’
We have written this letter in response because we would like more journalists to go to court.
Dear Editor,
We welcome your observation that transparency should help a flawed system to improve (https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/mar/30/the-guardian-view-on-family-justice-transparency-should-help-a-flawed-system-to-improve). We agree there is significant public interest in ensuring that improved access helps shine a spotlight on the work of the Family Court to increase public awareness and drive improvements. As a public educational charity whose objects are to make family courts clearer, we can send legal bloggers into family court hearings that are held in private but our authorised lawyers (with limited time) do this on an entirely voluntary basis. Press reporting is rare, although you recently published an enlightening report – https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2026/jan/18/custody-the-secret-history-of-mothers-lara-feigel While we agree with you that transparency alone is not the answer to the strains in an under-resourced system, we hope you will continue to support journalists in raising awareness through attending and reporting from court.
Julie Doughty
Chair, The Transparency Project
If our letter is published, we will add a link to it.