Poppi Worthington

Curious news reports regarding the cause of death of a baby girl in Cumbria, began circulating some weeks ago. The BBC reported that the coroner saying that “there had been a two-week Family Court hearing into the death, which found the cause of death could not...

Family Justice Council Transparency Debate

The Family Justice Council is holding its 8th Annual Debate and panel discussion at Central Hall, Westminster, Storey’s Gate, London SW1H 9NH between 5.30pm and 7.30pm on Tuesday 11th November 2014. The topic for this year’s debate is transparency. The motion for...

Cats, genies and stable doors.

Locking the stable door after the horse has bolted There are many metaphors which are applicable in this situation. Cats that are out of bags, genies that are out of their bottles etc, etc. What the metaphors share is recognition of the futility of trying to act after...

Accessible Judgments

More family judgments than ever before are being made available to the public, primarily through BAILII. But sending a judgment to BAILLI doesn’t in itself mean that the public are better informed or that they are able to access the information held on that site...

Is ‘transparency’ the same as ‘openness’?

The short answer is ‘No’. Some years ago, I noticed that the consultation documents on access to family courts tended to use these two terms interchangeably and I wondered if transparency was just a fashionable word for openness. I looked into it and...

BAILII (Judgments)

BAILII, the British and Irish Legal Information Agency, is a charity which makes judgments in family (and other) cases freely available for public use. Family Division (High Court) Judgments Family Court Judgments (High Court Judges) Family Court Judgments (Other...

Section 20 Agreements

Section 20 of the Children Act 1989 is about the local authority’s duty to provide accommodation for any child in need in their area who needs somewhere to live because there isn’t anyone who has parental responsibility for him or the person who has been caring...