Family Court Reporting Watch Roundup

• Correcting, clarifying or commenting on media reports of family court cases
• Explaining or commenting on published Judgments of family court cases
• Highlighting other transparency news

MEDIA (MIS)REPORTS OF FAMILY COURTS CASES 

Notably accurate (or otherwise transparency positive) reports:

As a paediatrician, I can tell you that the case of Charlie Gard isn’t as black and white as it seems – This thoughtful perspective from a paediatrician, in the Voices section of the Independent, stood out among a deluge of reports (and mis-reports), about Charlie Gard this week. (See Case Explanations below for an explanation of the ECHR judgment).

(A Press Release was issued by Great Ormond Street Hospital on Friday. It confirmed that GOSH have applied to the High Court for a fresh hearing in light of claims of new evidence relating to potential treatment for his condition, including on the basis that, two international hospitals and their researchers have communicated …that they have fresh evidence about their proposed experimental treatment. The development has been widely reported. The case is listed for hearing by Mr Justice Francis in the High Court at 2pm on Monday 10 July 2017, in Open Court (unless otherwise directed by the court).

 

NEWLY PUBLISHED CASES FOR EXPLANATION OR COMMENT

Gibbs v Gibbs [2017] EWHC 1700 (Fam) (29 June 2017) – In which Mr Justice Hayden commits a parent to prison for 9 months for sustained non compliance with an order of the family court. Blog to follow:

 

T v S (Wardship) [2011] EWHC 1608 (Fam) (27 May 2011) – John Bolch commented on last week’s Transparency Project blog, The Limits of the Court’s Influence Over Adult Disputes About Children, in When Both Parents Are Their Child’s Worst Enemy:

 

Charles GARD and Others against the United Kingdom, no. 39793/17 ECHR –    Allan Norman (@CelticKnot) explained the ECHR decision in Charlie Gard – What Did The European Court Actually Say and Why?: 

 

 

See also his opinion piece on the Supreme Court decision at the Small Places here – Charlie Gard and the magical mantra of best interests on the House of Lords decision:

 

IN OTHER TRANSPARENCY NEWS

Guide for Families on Publication of Family Court Judgments – NEWLY PUBLISHED. See this post for more information and for links to the press release, and the series of guidance notes (funded by the Legal Education Fund).

 

An Open Question by Mr Justice Peter Jackson in Family Law on transparency – This article is behind a paywall but see this twitter thread for a few key extracts:

 

Transparency Developments in the Court of Protection – We explained the revised Standard Order announced by Mr Justice Charles in The Transparency Pilot: A note from the Vice President of the Court of Protection:

 

Progress on our forthcoming Guidance Note on allegations of domestic abuse and harm in the family courts  – Chair of the Transparency Project, Lucy Reed, led a workshop with Rebecca Wilkie of the LiP Support Strategy (Access to Justice Foundation) at the Women’s Aid Conference on 6th July.  One outcome of  the seminar [UPDATE: Navigating the Family Courts Process Alone: How to Support Women Without Lawyers] was that domestic abuse practitioners identified some key practice issues they’d like to see covered in a guide.  The guide will address issues faced by both men and women, those accused of domestic violence or abuse and those alleged to have suffered from it. It forms part of a series funded by the Legal Education Foundation under the Family Court Reporting Watch Project. We aim to launch it with a panel discussion event:

 

How (and why) to tweet from the ‘secret’ and ‘shadowy’ Court of Protection – A guest post by Jenny and Celia Kitzinger on transparency and live-tweeting in the court of protection:

 

 

Feature pic: Courtesy of Flickr Lauri Heikkinenon via Creative Commons licence – thanks