Posts
The PSA – nothing to see here!
We have been looking at transparency issues in connection with the regulation of social workers, in light of a case where a family court made very serious findings against 3 social workers. On the face of it, these findings would amount to serious professional...
Public confidence in the social work regulator: Where next? (Twitter conversations via Storify)
Interesting conversations on twitter yesterday, in response to the social work regulators decision in 'the Hampshire social workers case'. We've 'storified' some of them here. (With thanks for thought provoking discussions and apologies for omissions or errors). [View...
Family Court Reporting Watch: Weekly Round Up
Correcting, clarifying or commenting on media reports of family court cases Explaining or commenting on published Judgments of family court cases Highlighting other transparency news MEDIA REPORTS OF FAMILY COURTS CASES / FAMILY JUSTICE ISSUES The...
How can you defend a rapist?
This blog post originally appeared on Lucy Reed's Pink Tape blog. This : "but how CAN you defend a rapist?" is the apocryphal question asked of any lawyer at any dinner party she is daft enough to attend (actually the question is real enough, though I’m...
Co-Sleeping Correction Requests – Update
We made correction requests to three national newspapers regarding their coverage of a care case which involved (but was not about) co-sleeping. We have now received a response from all 3 of the newspapers involved. The results are below. You can read the original...
Shi-Anne Downer – Press Coverage and Serious Case Review
The publication of the Serious Case Review in the very sad case of Shi-Anne (Keegan) Downer, murdered at 18 months old by her Special Guardian Kandyce Downer, has prompted a fresh round of press coverage of the circumstances of her death. Kandyce Downer was convicted...
Open letter to the PSA – response from HCPC
Below is the text of an email response received on 16th February from the Health Care and Professional Council (HCPC), to our Open Letter of 10th February 2017 to the Professional Standards Authority (PSA) (we had cc'd the HCPC and the PSA invited them to respond)....
When child protection goes wrong – can you claim any financial compensation?
This post follows a recent report of an adult who has taken legal action against a local authority for failures to do their job properly or at all, resulting in harm to that individual. It is an attempt to provide a brief over-view of the likely routes to a claim for...
What’s going on with damages claims under the Human Rights Act?
IMPORTANT EDIT 29th June 2018 IMPORTANT EDIT RE THE STATUTORY CHARGE AND DAMAGES 29th June 2018 I am very pleased that this post is now redundant! Northamptonshire County Council & Anor v The Lord Chancellor(via the Legal Aid Agency) [2018], considers important...
Teresa Kirk and the Court of Protection – the end of an “astonishing story”
On 14 February 2017, the Daily Mail reported on developments in a Court of Protection case that it has been following for some time: “an astonishing story that has come to represent all that is wrong with Britain’s shadowy Court of Protection.” The story is that of...