Posts
Cafcass response to the Transparency Project comments on their draft revised Framework
On 11 August, the Cafcass policy and communications team emailed us in reply to our comments on their revised framework. We explain what they said below. We will now write again, as well as alert them to this blog through twitter. They told us (our summary not their...
Primacy of children’s interests in the publicity debate
Freedom of expression: are children’s interests ‘paramount’? In her update on transparency on the Transparency Project blog ‘Lucy R’ raised what has been said by Sir James Munby P: that ‘the interests of the child are NOT paramount on questions of...
Mother jailed for contempt could be named despite her young child being involved in anonymised family court proceedings. Why?
To those accustomed to the idea that the family courts sit “behind closed doors” it may seem surprising for a judge to tell journalists they could name a woman who was being jailed for contempt of court, even though her three-year-old daughter was caught up in a...
Religious and cultural identity in foster care
On 28th August 2017 The Times published a story about a white Christian child 'forced' into a (presumably) brown skinned Muslim family The prominent placement of this report on the front page with its eerie image of the little white girl being led away by a shadowy...
What we’re thinking: the Family Court Adviser’s article
An anonymous family court adviser (CAFCASS Officer) wrote an article for the Guardian this week: What I’m really thinking: the family court adviser. The strapline reads "Both parents are usually adamant that the other is a complete nightmare". That is a familiarly...
Statistics and headlines in legal news: controlling the surges
A few months ago, Paul Magrath wrote a post on the figures behind the Daily Telegraph's headline “financial abuse rockets as more powers of attorney challenged by courts”, showing that the rocket turned out to be a very small damp squib. The subject of that post came...
Some news on transparency
The President of the Family Division speaks formally and informally at many events and conferences up and down the country on a regular basis. Not all such speeches are published. This post is drawn from remarks of The President that have not been published, but The...
Family Court Reporting Watch Roundup
Correcting, clarifying or commenting on media reports of family court cases Explaining or commenting on published Judgments of family court cases Highlighting other transparency news MEDIA (MIS)REPORTS OF FAMILY COURT CASES The Financial Times - We...
The Everlasting Discussion of Lasting Powers of Attorney
An interview with recently-retired senior judge of the Court of Protection, Denzil Lush, on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Tuesday 15 August 2017, and associated coverage on the BBC News website and other mainstream media, has led to a flurry of comment and...
Family Court judge accused of misfeasance in public office by social worker he criticised
This is a sad and unsatisfactory story. In November last year, the Court of Appeal allowed an appeal brought by an unnamed social worker and an unnamed police officer against findings of an unnamed judge against them. The unusual feature of the case was that neither...