Recent cases involving covert recording

Lucy Reed has commented on her Pink Tape recently about a case that has been widely reported, where a father sewed bugs into his daughters school clothes and was severely criticised for it. In the blog she considers the significance of that judgment and the relevance...

Adoption – rhetoric and facts (again)

Last Sunday, the Prime Minister was widely quoted from the Sunday Times as being ‘unashamedly pro-adoption’ in describing the new Children and Social Work Bill announced later last week in the Queen’s Speech. The aims of the provisions in the Bill on...

When Transparency Goes Wrong

This weekend a judgment from care proceedings was published on BAILII, late on Friday night. This is not unusual. But what was unusual was the fact that it was a judgment relating to a fact finding hearing in respect of sexual abuse to a young child, in which all the...

Adoption – where are we now?

Varying views and concerns have emerged in the weeks following the publication of the government paper on adoption in England. The policy landscape is still far from clear or agreed. The Supreme Court judgment published this week, on whether it is in the best...

Family courts in the headlines this week

Family courts hit the mainstream news headlines this week. Here is a brief summary of transparency related matters. Dr Waney Squier and expertise on non-accidental head injuries and babies The esoteric subject of an expert witness in the family courts came up, because...