A child’s voice in care proceedings

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

A recent care case heard in Cardiff Family Court highlighted the experiences of children living in fear of their parents’ unpredictable and violent behaviour. The judge said that despite her having 30 years experience in care work, the children’s descriptions (in...

Court lifts grandmother’s anonymity at her request

by reporting watch team | Nov 11, 2025 | Cases, Explanation, FCReportingWatch, Notorious

This court judgment – [2025] EWFC 374 – has been published with two names: one is Re A (A Child) (Mother killed by Father) and the other: Linda Westcarr v Gogoa Lois Tape (1) A (2) The Paternal Grandmother (3)The Paternal Grandfather (4) and The London Borough of...

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...