Posts
New research on transparency in family justice
Members of the Transparency Project have noticed that the rate at which family court judgments are sent to BAILII, and the way in which they are reported, has been inconsistent over the past two years, despite the guidance issued by the court's President in January...
‘Baby-snatchers’ and post-natal depression – update
As Paul Magrath noted lasted week, The Spectator published this article by Lara Prendergast on 6 February : Beware the baby-snatchers. He explained the misrepresentation of family court reporting in this story. Another unsubstantiated claim made by Lara Prendergast...
Secrets and lies – the lazy cliches that stand in the way of proper court reporting
When, recently, a popular radio and TV presenter died, several tabloid newspapers splashed their front pages with the news that Terry Wogan had lost his "secret battle with cancer". The implication was that he, together with his medical team and close family, had...
Press Reporting of Care Proceedings
Transparency Project members Lucy Reed and Louise Tickle wrote an article on this topic for Family Law Journal in January. Jordans have kindly given permission for that article to be republished here. If you would like to read the article please click here to download...
Talking to the Judge without your client in court is potentially unlawful
This post arises out of a recent comment by a parent on the Child Protection Resource site. I sat in a court waiting room in the not too distant past, when I noticed a lawyer go up to the client and say the judge wants to see us in chambers. So the client sat there...
Recording Guidance – update
We've made some very minor corrections to our guidance note - the version now on the site is version 2, Jan 16. Older versions are still fine, but the corrections were as follows : We'd inadvertently put the wrong year in for the Data Protection Act We'd included a...
Should the standard of proof for child sexual abuse be lowered so that more of those accused can be tried and convicted in the criminal courts?
Should the standard of proof for child sexual abuse be lowered so that more of those accused can be tried and convicted in the criminal courts? This seemed to be the argument being made by Anne Longfield, children’s commissioner for England, on the Today programme...
2nd Child Protection Conference – Where Do We Go From Here?
#CPConf2016 Where and When? Friday June 3rd 2016 The Priory Rooms, Birmingham 40 Bull Street B4 6AF. Following the success of CPConf2015 – Is the Child Protection System Fit for Purpose? – the Transparency Project is pleased to announce its support for the second...
Poppi Worthington
The case of little Poppi Worthington, a 1 year old girl who died in 2012, and who the Family Court has ruled was seriously sexually assaulted by her Father shortly before her death, has been much in the news recently. We wrote about Poppi's case some time ago here. We...
Four-year-old boy will be taken away from parents with learning difficulties because social workers say he’s ‘not getting the cuddles he needs’
The Daily Mail has reported a story today with the headline "Four-year-old boy will be taken away from parents with learning difficulties because social workers say he’s ‘not getting the cuddles he needs’". It is a story arising from the judgment of the President of...