Posts
CPConf2016 – How did it go?
On 3rd June 2016, the Transparency Project hosted the second Child Protection conference aimed at examining and discussing how the child protection system operates in England and Wales. Having concluded last year that the system wasn't fit for purpose, the emphasis...
The Ireland Report and the Fitness to Practise Panel in respect of Professor Ireland
In 2012, the "Ireland Report” was published. It was highly critical of the standards of psychological reports prepared for the family courts, something that there had been rumbling concerns about for years. The Ireland Report has come back into the news again recently...
Recent cases involving covert recording
Lucy Reed has commented on her Pink Tape recently about a case that has been widely reported, where a father sewed bugs into his daughters school clothes and was severely criticised for it. In the blog she considers the significance of that judgment and the relevance...
Adoption – rhetoric and facts (again)
Last Sunday, the Prime Minister was widely quoted from the Sunday Times as being 'unashamedly pro-adoption' in describing the new Children and Social Work Bill announced later last week in the Queen's Speech. The aims of the provisions in the Bill on adoption are,...
CPConf2016 Manifesto
What do we want to achieve? This is a post by Sarah Phillimore, wearing her 'conference organiser' hat. The Transparency Project is supporting CPConf2016 as an example of an event that aims to improve public understanding of the family law system. It is not the remit...
Section 20 Guidance Mark 2
Just a brief note to confirm we've now uploaded version 2 of the section 20 guidance having incorporated all your helpful feedback (sorry, some of us were on holiday so this was not as quick as we had hoped!) You can find version 2 here and in the Resources section....
Who is legally ‘the parent’ when something goes horribly wrong?
There are several instances in the media this week of Kandyce Downer being incorrectly described as a foster carer of the child she killed. See, for example here in the Telegraph. If Ms Downer had been a foster carer, there would have been local authority oversight...
The prurient press and a Court of Protection decision that had a profound effect on a family
In V v Associated Newspapers [2016] EWCOP 21, published on 25 April, Mr Justice Charles, Deputy President and Judge in Charge of the Court of Protection, uses the word ‘prurient’ several times about the press coverage of earlier judgments in the case of 'C', the woman...
Court of Protection pilot scheme: further observations
Having attended two earlier hearings in the Court of Protection under its transparency pilot scheme, described here and here, last week I paid a third visit in the hope of picking up further information about the court’s work. This time, I had heard about the case on...
When Transparency Goes Wrong
This weekend a judgment from care proceedings was published on BAILII, late on Friday night. This is not unusual. But what was unusual was the fact that it was a judgment relating to a fact finding hearing in respect of sexual abuse to a young child, in which all the...