Posts
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...
Adoption – where are we now?
Varying views and concerns have emerged in the weeks following the publication of the government paper on adoption in England. The policy landscape is still far from clear or agreed. The Supreme Court judgment published this week, on whether it is in the best...
Angela Wrightson, open justice and ‘piling needles on haystacks’
BY JUDITH TOWNEND. ORIGINALLY POSTED AT THE JUSTICE GAP. Thanks to The Justice Gap for permision to re-post here. Unlike the two children who murdered the toddler James Bulger in 1993, and the teenage boy who killed secondary school teacher Ann Maguire in 2014, the...
New “child-friendly” court design
Readers may recall last year’s Report of the Vulnerable Witnesses & Children Working Group (March 2015) (the “Hayden / Russell Working Group”) which recommended at para 34: “The need for greater transparency has been a leitmotif of recent modernisation of family...
Press Release: #CPConf2016
How do we keep children safe and families intact when the social care system is no longer fit for purpose? The Transparency Project is pleased to support the second conference to discuss how best to keep children safe and families intact on Friday 3 June at the Priory...
Court of Protection pilot scheme: finding out what the case is about
Following my first experience of attending a Court of Protection hearing in public under the pilot scheme, described in an earlier post, I attended another case hearing last week to see how far it would follow the same pattern, and whether I could pick up some more...
Family courts in the headlines this week
Family courts hit the mainstream news headlines this week. Here is a brief summary of transparency related matters. Dr Waney Squier and expertise on non-accidental head injuries and babies The esoteric subject of an expert witness in the family courts came up, because...