Posts
Police investigating drug testing lab that carried out tests for the Family Court
There have been news reports recently about failures at a forensic lab in Manchester, which was used for forensic testing in criminal cases. It was reported earlier this month that "Scores of convictions [are] in doubt amid forensic test manipulation claims". Those...
“Top Judge threatens to down tools rather than allow victims to be quizzed by abusers in his court”
...Or so we imagine the headlines may run if and when a member of the press reads as far as the bottom few paragraphs of the unassuming A (A Minor : Fact Finding; Unrepresented Party) [2017] EWHC 1195 (Fam) (19 May 2017), a recent judgment of Mr Justice Anthony...
Poppi’s dad to rake in money?
POPPI'S DAD'S CASH Accused dad of ‘abused’ tot Poppi Worthington to trouser thousands more in legal aid for inquest Paul Worthington, 49, got £117,000 in public cash for a custody battle over his other kids and is now set to rake in more Above is the headline...
Is there any public interest in naming divorcing couples?
In The Times last week, family courts were accused of being 'secretive' because they do not advertise the names of people who are getting divorced - under the headline 'Call to end divorce case secrecy' (paywall). 'Secret' divorces? The article then goes on to explain...
What to do about ‘parental alienation’: B (change of residence; parental alienation) March 2017
Re B (change of residence; parental alienation) [2017] EWFC B24 is the recently published judgment from a family court decision that a child had been alienated from her father by her mother and should move to live with her father. One of the aims of the President's...
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 COURTS CASES Notably accurate (or...
A response to the open letter from the “Mothers In Law” Blog
On May 8th 2017 the Mothers in Law Blog published 'An Open Letter to the Transparency Project'. We are very happy to respond; communication and dialogue about the family justice system is essential to our charitable objectives which we summarise in this way:...
Accuracy of reporting – not just for journalists
Here at The Transparency Project, we often politely challenge inaccurate reporting by the press (sometimes we are more polite than others). Everyone gets it wrong sometimes (including us), and some of the errors we've flagged have been a matter of simple human error...
CAFCASS, Contempt, Complaints and Child Protection
This blog post is about a case which provides a useful discussion point around questions of privacy of information in family cases, and what can and can't be disclosed about them. It illustrates how unclear things can be. The case is S v SP and CAFCASS [2016] EWHC...
Adoption – just how final is it? The Re W appeal
We wrote here about this case, involving a little girl "W" who had been made the subject of a placement order, allowing her to be placed for adoption away from her family. In the meantime, the original decision that had dealt with her and her siblings had been...