Boy left in Ghana – rehearing

by Julie Doughty | Nov 6, 2025 | Cases, Explanation, FCReportingWatch

There was a lot of media coverage back in February of this unusual story of a British teenage boy who’d taken his parents to court to try to get back home to London from Ghana. His parents had tricked him into visiting Ghana in early 2024 where they’d left him,...

Family Court Reporting Watch Roundup: October 2025

by reporting watch team | Nov 5, 2025 | Cases, FCReportingWatch, Transparency News

Welcome to the Roundup, where we correct, clarify and comment on media reports of family law, explain and comment on published family court judgments, and highlight other transparency news.  MEDIA COVERAGE OF FAMILY LAW, TRANSPARENCY etc The BBC reported that...

Repealing ‘the presumption” – an explainer

by reporting watch team | Oct 28, 2025 | Comment, FCReportingWatch, Trends

Section 1(2A) of the Children Act 1989, as amended in 2014, states that, with regard to applications for child arrangements orders under Section 8: A court … is as respects each parent … to presume, unless the contrary is shown, that involvement of that parent in the...

Care proceedings and chronic neglect

by Julie Doughty | Oct 24, 2025 | Cases, FCReportingWatch, Legal blogging

Six children, aged between two and twelve, were removed from their parents’ care because they had suffered chronic neglect and emotional harm, after court proceedings that had lasted 28 weeks and local authority involvement for 12 years. I’ve written about two...

Government announces outcome of the review into the family court presumption of involvement of both parents in a child’s life

by reporting watch team | Oct 22, 2025 | FCReportingWatch, FOI, Trends

We’ve sent in a series of requests under the Freedom of Information Act about the review of the presumption of parental involvement since the ‘urgent’ review was announced by the government in 2020. We have been asking about the continued delay in publishing the...

New research shows domestic abuse issues ‘fall by the wayside’ in making decisions about children

by reporting watch team | Oct 16, 2025 | FCReportingWatch, Resources

The Domestic Abuse Commissioner for England and Wales (DAC) this week published a report, Everyday Business: Addressing domestic abuse and continuing harm through a family court review and reporting mechanism by Mandy Burton and Rosemary Hunter, Loughborough...