Boy left in Ghana – rehearing

by Julie Doughty | Nov 6, 2025 | Cases, Explanation, FCReportingWatch

There was a lot of media coverage back in February of this unusual story of a British teenage boy who’d taken his parents to court to try to get back home to London from Ghana. His parents had tricked him into visiting Ghana in early 2024 where they’d left him,...

British teenager becomes a ward of court to escape from Somalia  

by reporting watch team | Sep 7, 2025 | Cases, Explanation, FCReportingWatch

We spotted this dramatic court judgment published last week although, surprisingly, we’ve not seen any media coverage – Re M (Nationality Based Jurisdiction) [2025] EWHC 1821 (Fam). There are a few similarities with the widely publicised case in July of the 14 year...

Children left with harmful parents because of lack of foster carers

by Julie Doughty | Aug 18, 2025 | Cases, Explanation, FCReportingWatch, Legal blogging

A local authority (LA) applied for care orders for six children in March 2025. At the case management hearing (CMH) I attended in April,  and wrote on here: ‘Completing care proceedings in less that 26 weeks’, a strict timetable was set out by the judge to ensure...

14 year old boy taken to Ghana – Appeal judgment

by reporting watch team | Jul 30, 2025 | Cases, Explanation, FCReportingWatch, Notorious

In June, the Court of Appeal allowed the appeal by a 14 year old boy against a High Court decision that his parents had lawfully taken him from his home in the UK to Ghana, where he’d been left at a boarding school. You can read Sanchia Berg’s story here. We included...

Legal blogging – placement order for adoption of a baby

by Julie Doughty | Jul 28, 2025 | Cases, Explanation, FCReportingWatch, Legal blogging

I wrote in April about an earlier hearing I’d attended in this case at Cardiff Family Court  before District Judge Saunders. This had originally seemed a sad but straightforward case of an abandoned baby for whom adoption would be the right outcome. Care...

‘If I had to live with mum I’d jump out of the window’ – Why two boys ended up living with their dad

by Lucy R | Jun 29, 2025 | Cases, Explanation, FCReportingWatch, Legal blogging, Open Reporting

On the day I saw them trot across the court waiting room on the way back from meeting the judge, Jamie and Andrew* were 10 and 14. I didn’t know that at the time, to me they looked smaller, younger. But the visit seemed to have gone well, as best I could tell from...