Adoption Statistics – again

John Hemming, former MP, has recently written a blog post on the Marilyn Stowe blog, called Adoption –  A look at the statistics, in which he says :  In the year to 31 March 2014 5,050 children left care through adoption, and of these 2,400 were “non consensual”...

Transparency overseas

This weekend I have been at the Family Law Bar Association annual conference at Cumberland Lodge, which this year has an international family law theme. Yesterday we heard two really illuminating presentations from foreign judges, who told us all about how they do...

DIY justice

This is both a summary and a review of BBC’s flagship current affairs programme, Panorama, which last week tackled the issue of legal aid cuts and the phenomenal rise in the number of litigants in person (LIPs) now using the courts in civil and family cases. The...

Jigsaw Identification

This is a guest post by “Judi”. Judi is a parent who has been through the Family Court who has acted as a Litigant in Person and McKenzie Friend. Once upon a time, in this land places called courts used to have public counters that opened reasonable hours,...