by Julie Doughty | Sep 22, 2026 | Cases, Explanation, FCReportingWatch, Legal blogging
A 12 year old boy (who I’ll call ‘Jon’ – not his real name) had been subject to private law proceedings for more than three years. In a final hearing before HHJ Gibbons at Oxford Family Court this summer, the Cafcass guardian said that Jon had been failed by the...
by Julie Doughty | Sep 4, 2026 | Cases, FCReportingWatch, Legal blogging
This week, I attended a short hearing at Cardiff Family Court about a local authority wanting to move a child under an interim care order to a school nearer where he currently lives. His mother didn’t agree, and she applied to court to object. With only a few days...
by Julie Doughty | Aug 12, 2026 | Cases, FCReportingWatch, Legal blogging
In Part One of this report, I described the court hearings in Cardiff Family Court that led to HHJ Paul Hopkins KC producing a 188 page fact-finding judgment of more than 700 paragraphs. The judge concluded that most of the allegations that the father, (who I’m...
by reporting watch team | Aug 4, 2026 | Cases, FCReportingWatch, Legal blogging, Transparency News
Welcome to the Roundup, where we correct, clarify and comment on media reports of family law, explain and comment on published family court judgments, and highlight other transparency news. MEDIA COVERAGE OF FAMILY LAW, TRANSPARENCY etc The Law Society Gazette...
by Julie Doughty | Aug 4, 2026 | Cases, FCReportingWatch, Legal blogging
During the Covid lockdown in 2020, a father of three young children experienced a mental health breakdown that led to the police being called and his being sectioned under the Mental Health Act 1983 and hospitalised for two weeks. He’d separated from his wife a few...
by Lucy R | Jul 19, 2026 | Cases, Comment, Explanation, FCReportingWatch, Legal blogging, Open Reporting
A much delayed legal blogpost – an explanation In October 2024 I visited the Central Family Court in London. My objective was to observe a hearing before the magistrates. At the time, the Reporting Pilot was in operation and there had been almost no reporting of...
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