Deprivation of Liberty and the black mirror

by Jack Harrison | Mar 2, 2023 | Analysis, Cases, FCReportingWatch

Is removing a mobile phone and access to social media a deprivation of a child’s liberty, or just something that a parent should be entitled to do? Mr Justice Macdonald gives us his answer in Manchester City Council v. P (Refusal of restrictions on mobile phone)...

Family Courts scrutinised by the press – but what do we think of the reporting so far?

by Lucy R | Feb 23, 2023 | Cases, Explanation, FCReportingWatch, Legal blogging, Reporting Pilot

Nobody who has ever read a newspaper or visited twitter would be expecting new media coverage of the family court, made possible by the ‘reporting pilot’, to be in glowing terms. However, the pilot isn’t a PR exercise, and for transparency to mean anything, we have to...

Royal wills: unsealing the mystery

by Paul M | Feb 19, 2023 | Comment, Explanation, Transparency News

In a series of earlier posts we have discussed the transparency, or lack of it, in the way the courts deal with wills left by deceased members of the Royal Family. In the case of the late Queen Elizabeth II, her will was not even required to be proved by a grant of...

The importance of free and unconditional consent of the surrogate in parental order cases

by Guest Post | Feb 2, 2023 | Cases, Explanation, FCReportingWatch

This is a guest post by Lottie Park-Morton, Senior Lecturer in Law at University of Gloucestershire, who is currently undertaking a PhD on surrogacy and children’s rights. Lottie tweets as @cparkmorton The recent case of Re C (Surrogacy: Consent) [2023] EWCA Civ 16...

Observations on a case about suspected fabricated illness under the new reporting pilot

by Alice T | Jan 19, 2023 | Cases, Explanation, FCReportingWatch, Legal blogging, Reporting Pilot, Transparency News

The winds of change are perhaps already blowing, with at least one family court case already operating under the open justice pilot due to start from 30 January for most children cases in Leeds, Cardiff and Carlisle. What can be reported of this case, at this stage,...

Parenting at a distance – a correct use of section 20

by Julie Doughty | Jan 12, 2023 | Cases, Explanation, FCReportingWatch

Use of section 20 Children Act 1989 for the voluntary accommodation of children has long been subject to controversy. Critcisms of practice have ranged from alleged coercion of parents into agreeing and lack of fully informed consent, through to allowing children to...