Posts
Transparency: the Perfect Storm
The recent decisions of Hayden J concerning a 7 year old boy, whose mother insisted he wished to be raised as a girl, set out a wide variety of the issues that concern the Transparency Project and which have provoked strong emotion for many readers. a complicated set...
If your ex takes your child to the other end of the country should the court treat it as abduction?
The Court of Appeal has clarified the question of how courts should deal with cases where one parent takes a child to live in a distant part of the country without the agreement of the other. The case is Re R (Child) [2016] EWCA Civ 1016 (20 October 2016) and the full...
Family Court Reporting Watch: Weekly Round-Up
• Correcting, clarifying and commenting on media reports of family cases • Explaining and commenting on published Judgments of family cases • Highlighting other transparency news MEDIA REPORTS OF FAMILY COURTS CASES: 'Judge orders boy, seven, to live...
The terrifying tale of how Britain’s most secret court imprisoned a grandmother (AKA Court enforces its own orders and publishes judgment for the world to see)
This week Christopher Booker, chose this as his topic for his Sunday Telegraph column : The terrifying tale of how Britain's most secret court imprisoned a grandmother This is of course a very worrying headline. The article itself is also likely to raise...
Advertising children for adoptive parents in the national press
There have been four adverts for adoptive parents for children in the Mirror this week with another due tomorrow for ‘National Adoption Week’. They are here: 'Will you be my forever parents?' Heartbreaking story of boy who wants to be adopted'; ‘Alex wants nothing...
Press regulation: why we are unimpressed by IPSO
There are many things wrong with the way the national press reports legal matters, especially matters relating to the Family Court and the Court of Protection. But they are not going to get better unless and until the so-called regulator, IPSO, takes firmer action to...
The Court of Protection’s not so secret anymore, but the press don’t seem to have noticed
In the words of the song, the 'secret' Court of Protection is 'no secret anymore' because since January 2016, hearings are held in open court, unless the circumstances are exceptional. Applications for committal for contempt are always held in open court. We have...
Family Court Reporting Watch: Weekly Round-Up
Correcting and clarifying media reports of family cases; Explaining or commenting on published Judgments of family cases; Other transparency news MEDIA REPORTS OF FAMILY COURTS CASES: Re W – The Wrong End of the Stick (blog here) PUBLISHED FAMILY COURT...
“You and Your Father”: Judge writes TO a young person in a judgment
Mr Justice Keehan has taken the unusual step, not just of creating a short extra judgment for, but also writing that judgment directly to, the 15 year old young person, whose future he had to decide (and his father). Northamptonshire Council sought a care order for a...
Response from IPSO to our complaint about the Daily Mail
This post represents opinion and comment from Sarah Phillimore and should thus not be take as representative of the views of all members of the Transparency Project - but she hopes it is. On September 6th 2016 four family lawyers complained to the Daily Mail about...