Breaking the cycle of mistrust – sometimes less is not more

by reporting watch team | Nov 15, 2017 | Cases, Comment, FCReportingWatch, Notorious

Joanna Nicolas wrote recently that Details of care cases are concealed for good reason. The press must respect that (The Guardian, 1 Nov 2017). In her article she said that I believe few journalists write about children’s social care with integrity; few are interested...

Family Court Reporting Watch Roundup

by reporting watch team | Nov 12, 2017 | Analysis, Cases, Comment, Explanation, FCReportingWatch

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 Times – Tower Hamlets published an...

Why did Gloucestershire seek anonymity?

by reporting watch team | Nov 11, 2017 | Cases, Comment, FCReportingWatch

We’ve recently covered a case where a grandmother was permitted by a family court judge to tell of her experience in trying to secure the care of her baby granddaughter from Gloucestershire Council. After conceding that the grandmother ought to be able to tell...

A grandmother who wanted to complain, and a local authority that argued it shouldn’t be named

by Louise Tickle | Nov 10, 2017 | Cases, Comment, FCReportingWatch

Louise Tickle (award winning journalist and Transparency Project member) on applying to report the grandmother’s experience from ABC (A child) Re [2017]  B75 (30 October 2017) and to name the council concerned. (Her original news piece commissioned by the...

Online divorces – click here to end the marriage?

by Polly Morgan | Nov 2, 2017 | Explanation, FCReportingWatch

The Daily Mail have reported on a pilot project in which people start divorce proceedings by completing an online form. The project, which is running in Nottingham, has apparently had really positive results. The current method for starting a divorce is to post the...

Covert Recording : A hot potato lob by the Court of Appeal

by reporting watch team | Oct 24, 2017 | Analysis, Cases, Explanation, FCReportingWatch

The Court of Appeal delivered judgment in Re B (A Child) [2017] EWCA Civ 1579 last week. In it they consider (but do not resolve) the question of how the Family Court should deal with evidence obtained by covert recording. Whilst it took the Court of Appeal almost a...