Transparency versus Confidentiality: the Re X judgment

What do we do when information is already in the public domain? And what are the risks to the child if an adult party is identified? On Friday 8th July the judgment was published of the President of the Family Division in the Matter of X (A Child) (No2) [2016] EWHC...

Can an adoption order be undone?

An adoption order made by a court in England and Wales is normally irreversible, once the time limits for appeal have passed. This premise will be under scrutiny in October, when a re-hearing of an earlier fact-finding family court decision is scheduled. In a case...

CPConf2016 – How did it go?

On 3rd June 2016, the Transparency Project hosted the second Child Protection conference aimed at examining and discussing how the child protection system operates in England and Wales. Having concluded last year that the system wasn’t fit for purpose, the...

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...