FAMILY COURT REPORTING WATCH ROUNDUP

by Alice T | Feb 20, 2022 | Cases, Comment, Consultations, FCReportingWatch, Transparency News

Welcome to this month’s Roundup, where we correct, clarify and comment on media reports of family court cases, explain and comment on published family court judgments and highlight other transparency news MEDIA COVERAGE OF FAMILY COURT MATTERS The Independent –...

Local authority support services in Wales and private law contact disputes: Re R-E

by Julie Doughty | Feb 5, 2022 | Cases, Comment, Explanation, FCReportingWatch

This judgment, Re R-E (Contact: Support from local authorities in Wales) [2021] EWFC B95 from Pontypridd Family Court, published on BAILII a few days ago, has a number of unusual features. One is the outcome, that direct contact was found not to be in the...

Behind Closed Doors. Why We Break Up Families and How to Mend Them by Polly Curtis: A BOOK REVIEW

by Alice T | Feb 2, 2022 | Comment, FCReportingWatch, Transparency News

This is a live book review. I’m writing it as I read it. The book itself is a beautiful object. I don’t read enough books to know if this is typical for a Virago hardback, the latest thing in hardbacks, or just this book.  This book feels pocket-sized. You’d...

Behind Closed Doors – new book about the care system

by Guest Post | Jan 20, 2022 | Comment, FCReportingWatch, Transparency News, Trends

Behind Closed Doors: Why we break up families – and how to mend them, is due for publication by Virago on February 3. Here the Author, Polly Curtis, answers our questions. What’s your book, Behind Closed Doors, about? It’s about how the decision is made to...

Remote hearings: the HMCTS evaluation

by Paul M | Jan 4, 2022 | Comment, FCReportingWatch, Transparency News

Last month HM Courts and Tribunals Service published their own research into user experiences of remote hearings: Evaluation of remote hearings during the COVID 19 pandemic. The report analyses responses to surveys conducted between May and October 2020 with public...

The Equal Treatment Bench Book – guidance on fairness for judges

by reporting watch team | Dec 31, 2021 | Comment, Court of Protection, FCReportingWatch, Resources

UPDATE 25.03.24: We’ve now seen that there’s a revised 2023 version here. We’ve just noticed that a revised version of this lengthy document (566 pages!) has been issued online, so we looked for any references to transparency. What we found is brief...