Believe a child or the adults? A question for Cardiff Family Court

by Julie Doughty | May 12, 2023 | Cases, FCReportingWatch, Legal blogging, Reporting Pilot

This is a troubling story about three children subject to care applications by the Vale of Glamorgan Council; the final hearing took place last month and I attended Cardiff Family Court under the Reporting Pilot as a legal blogger.  There are far too many (more than...

Balancing professionals’ Article 8 claims with parents’ Article 10 claims

by reporting watch team | Apr 18, 2023 | Cases, FCReportingWatch, Transparency News

With the progress gradually being made toward more openness in family court proceedings, there’s increasing discussion about who should and who should not be named and identified in judgments and reports. Although there is consensus (and law) that children...

Anonymisation of a young adult applicant for judicial review about section 20

by Julie Doughty | Apr 10, 2023 | Analysis, Cases, Comment, FCReportingWatch

There are two matters of interest in this unusual judgment by Mr Justice  Mostyn in respect of a claim for judicial review brought by a teenager against a local authority, originally published on The National Archives as TT v Essex County Council [2023] EWHC 721 (Fam)...

Cardiff Family Drug & Alcohol Court – a snapshot

by Lucy R | Mar 21, 2023 | Cases, Comment, Legal blogging, Reporting Pilot

On 2 February 2023, I attended the Family Court in Cardiff, aiming to report on cases under the newly launched Reporting Pilot. I identified one case on the court list which I was able both to attend and report. It turned out to be a hearing in the FDAC – the Family...

Re Z: A family court decision to share serious abuse findings with Social Work England (with guidance)

by Malvika Jaganmohan | Mar 12, 2023 | Analysis, Cases, Explanation, FCReportingWatch

Last month, there was a fair bit of media interest around a High Court battle before Mrs Justice Knowles involving a senior social worker who had been found by the family court to have perpetrated domestic abuse towards his ex-partner. HHJ Ahmed, the judge...

‘Somewhere in the history of this case we have lost our humanity’

by Julie Doughty | Mar 5, 2023 | Cases, Comment, Explanation, FCReportingWatch

This is an update on a case I wrote about in September last year – ‘Choosing the course which is less stressful to the child’. The hearing before Mrs Justive Lieven last summer concerned applications for care orders by Warwickshire County Council in...