Reporting restrictions and accountability in the family courts

by Lucy R | Aug 12, 2018 | Comment, Transparency News, Trends

Family Law publishes a regular column by The Transparency Project. This blog post originally appeared in the July 2018 issue, [2018] Fam Law 917. A sequence of lectures delivered about – or touching upon the subject of – transparency have been delivered in recent...

Crisis in care – crisis in confidence?

by Lucy R | Mar 4, 2018 | Comment, FCReportingWatch, Trends

In November 2017 Family Rights Group launched an enquiry into the causes of the increasing numbers of children in care and in care proceedings. No doubt there are many such causes. As we noted in September [2017] Fam Law 1048, those causes probably include...

The sector-led review into the rise in care applications and number of children in care: Wales

by Julie Doughty | Jan 22, 2018 | Consultations, Events, Trends

On 10 January, I attended a round table meeting arranged in Wales about the Care Crisis Review, which is a short-term enquiry funded by the Nuffield Foundation into the reasons for the rise in numbers of children in care and going through the courts. (A similar...

Transparency Project News: Legal bloggers – a level playing field?

by Lucy R | Nov 15, 2017 | Cases, Comment, FCReportingWatch, Trends

In August THAT Muslim foster carer story hit the press (‘Christian child forced into foster care’, The Times, 28 August 2017). The Times journalist Andrew Norfolk, lauded for his expose of the Rotherham child sexual abuse scandal, was the subject of...

Knocking at the door to the family courts: two journalists’ experiences, two years apart

by Louise Tickle | Oct 16, 2017 | Cases, Comment, FCReportingWatch, Trends

Last month, senior BuzzFeed reporter Emily Dugan spent three days at Birmingham’s central family and civil court, researching a fascinating and in-depth article that detailed the effects of legal aid cuts on people who can’t afford a lawyer and who therefore...

But What About the Children? Hearing the Voice of Children and Young People in court proceedings

by Sarah P | Oct 13, 2017 | Events, Trends

On Monday 9th March 2017 I attended the Nagalro Autumn Conference which examined how children’s voices are heard in court proceedings about them. Nagalro is the Professional Association for children’s guardians, family court advisors and independent social...