Freedom versus responsibility when the Press report on care proceedings

by Sarah P | Sep 11, 2018 | Comment, FCReportingWatch

On September 6th 2018 The Sun published an article ‘They Stole my Baby’ – Mum’s heartbreaking tale of how secret courts took her baby away forever – as we reveal children are being ripped from parents in record numbers. What follows is the usual...

The Muslim Foster Carer Case – the final chapter

by reporting watch team | Sep 10, 2018 | Analysis, Cases, FCReportingWatch, Notorious

Last autumn we covered the so-called ‘muslim foster carer’ case, over a number of blog posts (you can find those posts here). This week, just as we’d given up hope of ever finding out what happened to the little girl at the heart of the case, the...

Government plans to overhaul divorce laws

by Paul M | Sep 9, 2018 | Consultations, FCReportingWatch, Trends

A long awaited reform of the divorce laws in England and Wales now seems close to becoming a reality, after Buzzfeed News revealed on 7 September that “justice secretary David Gauke is set to announce a consultation on no-fault divorce in which he will call for...

Legal Bloggers – Pilot Announced

by reporting watch team | Aug 22, 2018 | FCReportingWatch, Transparency News

We are very excited. After months of liaison with the Family Procedure Rules Committee our proposal to permit legal bloggers into family court hearings is going to be piloted. The pilot will launch on 1 October and run for 9 months until 30 June 2019, so it’s no...

Plenty of fish, too little caviar

by Barbara Rich | Aug 21, 2018 | Analysis, Cases, Comment, Explanation, FCReportingWatch

Burki v. Seventy Thirty Ltd, Seventy Thirty Ltd v. Burki [2018] EWHC 2151 (QB) A recent High Court judgment offers a vivid glimpse into the real-life world of “Wry Society”, a regular feature in the Financial Times How to Spend Itmagazine, which holds a mirror up to...

Family Court Reporting Watch Roundup

by reporting watch team | Aug 18, 2018 | FCReportingWatch

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 COURT CASES BBC News – In the last Roundup we...

Leaving the country to evade care proceedings – how does the court in England & Wales get your children back?

by reporting watch team | Aug 14, 2018 | Cases, Explanation, FCReportingWatch

Hampshire County Council v C.E. and N.E. (Urgent preliminary ruling procedure – Jurisdiction, recognition and enforcement of judgments in matters of parental responsibility – Opinion) [2018] EUECJ C-325/18PPU_O (07 August 2018)   Introduction The following...

VACANCY : PROJECT CO-ORDINATOR

by reporting watch team | Aug 12, 2018 | FCReportingWatch, Project, Transparency News

Closing date : noon 10 September 2018. £30,000 p.a. plus 3% pension contribution. 12 month contract. 35 h pw. Potential job share, semi-flexible hours. Work from home. About us The Transparency Project is a small charity founded in 2015 that aims to make family courts...

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...

‘Oh I’m sorry, did I forget to mention you don’t have to agree to this?’ When social workers forget that interventions under ‘Child in Need’ are voluntary

by reporting watch team | Aug 12, 2018 | Comment

The author of this post is a child protection social worker, who writes under a pseudonym, including in the Guardian. There has been significant press coverage of the work of child protection social workers over the last few months. At times I have found this coverage...