Posts
Transparency Toolkit
This toolkit was prepared by Alice Twaite and Lucy Reed in May 2015. It gives an overview of some transparency related issues in the Family Court. Download Toolkit You are free to use, copy and circulate it, but it does not contain legal advice and it may not be...
How do I make an application to the court to allow me to publish information about family proceedings?
Part of the aims of the Transparency Project is to gather resources to help others to promote openness and hence greater understanding about how the family court system works. I am attempting to start the ball rolling with my suggestions as to what could usefully be...
And yet more opprobrium heaped on social workers..
This has been pretty horrible week for anyone interested in children's services and family justice, what with the closure of BAAF and the controversy around Kids Company. And yet more criticism of social workers... Although I'm all for transparency, I'm not personally...
Wigan Borough Council v Fisher – a Judgment about transparency
Wigan Borough Council v Fisher & Ors v Fisher & Thomas (Rev 1) [2015] EWFC 34 (21 April 2015) is a decision of Mr Justice Peter Jackson in which he considers whether a judgment in care proceedings should be published. The interesting features of it are : The...
Fields v Fields – A judgment dealing with transparency issues
This judgment of Mr Justice Holman was published in June. You can read it in full on BAILII here : Fields v Fields (Rev 1) [2015] EWHC 1670 (Fam) (04 June 2015). It is a decision made in financial remedy proceedings (sorting out the finances after separation of a...
Will the ‘real story’ behind forced adoption please stand up?
I wrote one blog post this week which I thought was about one thing - the irritating promotion of a dangerous untruth that the UK is the 'only' country in Europe or even the World that permits 'forced adoption'. Interestingly, the focus of my concerns soon shifted...
A lie can get round the world before the truth has put its boots on
The continuing myth that the UK is the 'only' country that permits 'forced adoption'. It is ironic to note that the source of the title quote, so often used by the late great Sir Terry Pratchett has itself often been falsely attitributed - to both Mark Twain...
What happened to the Leveson inquiry into press standards?
Or - Will we ever have a responsible, regulated press in the UK? Here at the Transparency Project, we are always conscious of the need to balance the interests of freedom of expression with privacy and the public with private interests. These principles were argued...
RIGHTS INFO – the #50cases project
We believe that transparency in family justice relies on recognition of human rights. Essentially, achieving transparency in a way that balances everyone’s rights (including the rights of children) can be explained through three important Articles in the European...
When journalists ignore source material it is public debate which pays the price
Christopher Booker wrote about the case of Ethan Williams in The Telegraph this weekend, in an article entitled : When judges defy instinct, it is children who pay the price - We were presented with two flatly opposing views of the story of Rebecca Minnock, who went...