Posts
Sara Sharif -what we now know from the Safeguarding Review
Chris Barnes represented the journalists, Louise Tickle and Hannah Summers, in proceedings before the High Court and Court of Appeal arising from applications for the disclosure of papers from the family proceedings concerning Sara and her family. On 13 November 2025,...
Court lifts grandmother’s anonymity at her request
This court judgment – [2025] EWFC 374 – has been published with two names: one is Re A (A Child) (Mother killed by Father) and the other: Linda Westcarr v Gogoa Lois Tape (1) A (2) The Paternal Grandmother (3)The Paternal Grandfather (4) and The London Borough of...
Family Procedure Rule Committee Open Meeting
One of our trustees, Julie Doughty, attended the Annual Open Meeting of the Family Procedure Rule Committee held online on 3 November. Applicants who ask to attend are invited to send in a question that may be answered at the meeting. Our question was about the ban on...
Boy left in Ghana – rehearing
There was a lot of media coverage back in February of this unusual story of a British teenage boy who’d taken his parents to court to try to get back home to London from Ghana. His parents had tricked him into visiting Ghana in early 2024 where they’d left him,...
Family Court Reporting Watch Roundup: October 2025
Welcome to the Roundup, where we correct, clarify and comment on media reports of family law, explain and comment on published family court judgments, and highlight other transparency news. MEDIA COVERAGE OF FAMILY LAW, TRANSPARENCY etc The BBC reported that...
Repealing ‘the presumption” – an explainer
Section 1(2A) of the Children Act 1989, as amended in 2014, states that, with regard to applications for child arrangements orders under Section 8: A court … is as respects each parent … to presume, unless the contrary is shown, that involvement of that parent in the...
Care proceedings and chronic neglect
Six children, aged between two and twelve, were removed from their parents’ care because they had suffered chronic neglect and emotional harm, after court proceedings that had lasted 28 weeks and local authority involvement for 12 years. I've written about two earlier...
Government announces outcome of the review into the family court presumption of involvement of both parents in a child’s life
We’ve sent in a series of requests under the Freedom of Information Act about the review of the presumption of parental involvement since the ‘urgent’ review was announced by the government in 2020. We have been asking about the continued delay in publishing the...
New research shows domestic abuse issues ‘fall by the wayside’ in making decisions about children
The Domestic Abuse Commissioner for England and Wales (DAC) this week published a report, Everyday Business: Addressing domestic abuse and continuing harm through a family court review and reporting mechanism by Mandy Burton and Rosemary Hunter, Loughborough...
Consultation on allocation and gatekeeping in family courts
This topic was recently covered in a consultation issued by judges that updates guidance to courts on what level of judge or magistrate should sit on a case and generally how applications received will be efficiently administered. The guidance says that it applies to...