Posts
Jigsaw Identification – putting the pieces back into the box
We've been having some discussions behind the scenes about jigsaw identification here at TP recently. Not very transparent I grant you, but the problem is that our discussions have centred upon some judgments that one commenter was anxious might have given away a...
DIY justice
This is both a summary and a review of BBC’s flagship current affairs programme, Panorama, which last week tackled the issue of legal aid cuts and the phenomenal rise in the number of litigants in person (LIPs) now using the courts in civil and family cases. The...
The changes are organic and ongoing
('Organic' - characterised by gradual or natural development – OED) So say the Court of Appeal, in a judgment given in a case called Re C (A Child) on 24 March; the full judgment has not yet been published. The judges in this case commented that there had been a move...
A striking headline : Construction tycoon left ‘homeless’ after ex-wife wins 80% of his property in divorce
This case about a financial claim on divorce hit the mainstream media recently (see for example The Telegraph here. The case involved a millionaire divorcee Barry Stocker. At first blush it seems surprising that either one of a wealthy couple should be "left too poor...
Jigsaw Identification
This is a guest post by "Judi". Judi is a parent who has been through the Family Court who has acted as a Litigant in Person and McKenzie Friend. Once upon a time, in this land places called courts used to have public counters that opened reasonable hours, where...
W(h)ither Transparency?
It has been a long time since the President of the Family Division first published his "Next Steps" Transparency Consultation (August 2014) and an even longer time since he took his first steps in that direction, with the publication at the outset of 2014 of the...
The final report of the Vulnerable Witnesses and Children Working Group
This report was published this week on behalf of a group chaired by two High Court judges, Mr Justice Hayden and Ms Justice Russell. What does it have to do with transparency? Well, this (paragraph 34): ‘The need for greater transparency has been a leitmotif of recent...
My line in the sand
To ban or not to ban? We have had a debate about our 'ground rules' for the conference on 1st June. We have all agreed that, if there are people we have serious grounds to suspect don't share our aims and objectives and those people are likely to try and disrupt the...
Social services in Europe: legislation and practice of the removal of children from their families in Council of Europe Member States
OK, it's not a pithy title. It is, however, the formal title of the document that I'm about to review. And it is an accurate description of what the document is about. Here it is:...
Risks and benefits
Policing parents? Protecting Children? Promoting Adoption? Are we getting the child protection system we deserve? Multi disciplinary conference 1st June 2015 We are excited about this ‘ground-breaking’ conference that will bring together such a range of voices, on...