Supreme Court emphasises councils’ duties to inform parents fully about s. 20

by Julie Doughty | Jul 18, 2018 | Analysis, Cases, Comment, Explanation, FCReportingWatch, Notorious

“Parents with parental responsibility always have a qualified right to object and an unqualified right to remove their children at will (subject to any court orders about where the child is to live). Section 20 gives local authorities no compulsory powers over...

About that civil partnership case ….

by Polly Morgan | Jun 30, 2018 | Cases, Explanation, FCReportingWatch

There’s been a great deal of misunderstanding and misreporting around Wednesday’s Supreme Court judgment about civil partnerships*. Civil partnership was introduced by the Civil Partnership Act 2004 and is presently open to same-sex couples only. It was therefore a...

Family Court Reporting Watch

by reporting watch team | May 12, 2018 | Cases, Comment, Explanation, FCReportingWatch, Transparency News

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 Telegraph and the Times – We...

Press regulator upholds complaint against The Times in the Muslim Foster Carer Case

by reporting watch team | Apr 26, 2018 | Cases, Explanation, FCReportingWatch

Last year The Times ran a number of leading articles criticising the arrangements for the care of a young girl placed in foster care by Tower Hamlets council, with a focus on the religious background and practices of the foster carer and their ability to speak...

Litigant’s claim struck out for discussing case during break in giving evidence – a cautionary tale

by Paul M | Apr 15, 2018 | Cases, Explanation

It’s one of the cardinal rules of court procedure: once you’ve entered the witness box and started to give evidence, you mustn’t discuss the case with anyone outside court, if there’s a break in the proceedings, until you’ve finished giving evidence. While the...

The responsible use of attachment assessments for court

by Julie Doughty | Apr 11, 2018 | Cases, Comment, Explanation

This is a guest post by Rebecca Carr-Hopkins and Tracy Rydin-Orwin (ICI trainers) and Andrea Landini (Director, Family ReIations Institute). They are responding to our post on the case of Re C [2018] EWFC B9, where a psychologist’s evidence was based on a...