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...

Adoption Targets & Bonuses

I couldn’t really nail this in my “follow the money” pieces (part 2 here), but it is important. I was thinking that a starting point might be an FOI request to the Department for Education, and had in mind these questions   1. Has the UK...

Follow the money Part Two

Follow the Money Part Two (please read Part One first, which sets out the context and purpose)   Social workers The social worker is the person at the sharp end. On any individual case, they have to make the judgment call as to whether the situation can work at...