Posts
Frustrated: our attempts to report on family court hearing before Magistrates – a system in overload
If we can't navigate the system what hope for litigants in person? POST UPDATED 24 SEPTEMBER 2024 As far as we know legal bloggers at The Transparency Project are the only reporters who have tried to report on family court cases being dealt with by magistrates. Given...
Just how open is an open meeting of the Family Justice Council?
On 22 July 2024 the Family Justice Council held its annual open meeting. We attended to see what we could see. In order to attend we had to apply in advance by a stated deadline. Questions were permitted but had to be asked in advance, by completing a web form, which...
London judge makes post-adoption contact order
We’ve come across what we think is the first ever judgment published on TNA/BAILII where a post-adoption contact order under section 51A of the Adoption and Children Act 2002 has been made. However, this order makes rather a fleeting appearance in the very long and...
Can you trust the information in popular petitions?
They may look persuasive, and present the arguments for their proposed action in a punchy and compelling manner, even backed up by research or statistics. But who is fact checking these petitions? Do you check the claims before you sign? Alarmingly, as a result of a...
More Family Court judgments to be published online
New guidance (you can find it here – scroll down to the ninth item on the list) has been issued to family courts by the President of the Family Division, Sir Andrew McFarlane, on how judgments by judges and magistrates should be safely anonymised and published on The...
Legal blogging from the magistrates – ‘live with’ and ‘spend time with’ orders
I’m taking up this report from Lucy’s of 5 May. This is our first successful legal blogging from a hearing before magistrates in the family court – which the mainstream media appear to be ignoring. Magistrates hear the less complicated cases which are unlikely to...
Family Court Reporting Watch Roundup
Welcome to the Roundup, where we correct, clarify and comment on media reports of family law, explain and comment on published family court judgments, and highlight other transparency news. MEDIA COVERAGE OF FAMILY LAW MATTERS The Independent (2 June 2024)...
Controversial Suspected Inflicted Head Injuries pilot launched: Lawyers raise concern about lack of consultation and potential unfairness
When a child suffers a head injury which medical professionals suspect may be inflicted, safeguarding processes are triggered, often leading to care proceedings and the removal of the child from the care of their parents, usuall y for many months and sometimes...
The tricky task of making a Child Arrangements Order: directive or undefined? (and how to seek clarification from the judge?)
This is a post by Rebecca Wright. Rebecca is a barrister at Garden Court North. Be warned: Mr Justice Poole has made clear that an undefined provision in a child arrangements order, directing the parents to sort out holiday contact between them, can be successfully...
A complex step-parent adoption hearing
As we wrote about here, the Government announced in April: ‘Child rapists to automatically have parental responsibility stripped: Vile abusers who rape a child will have their own parental responsibilities automatically removed under new laws.' However, this reform...