Family Court Reporting Watch Roundup

• 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

The Times –  We commented on the Times report, Christian Child Forced Into Muslim Foster Care, in Religious and Cultural Identify in Foster Care. We also analysed the published judgment of Her Honour Judge Sapnara and further reports from the Times in The most secretive court in all of Christendom…. (See also recent constructive discussions in the comments section).

 

The Metro and the Barking and Dagenham Post – We explained reports, Mother of missing girl jailed for ‘deliberately frustrating efforts to find her daughter’ and Jail term for Barking mum whose daughter disappeared during family court dispute, in the context of court rules on committal hearings. See our blog, Mother jailed for contempt could be named despite her young child being involved in anonymised family court proceedings. Why?:

 

The Guardian –  We commented on What I’m really thinking: the Family Court Adviser in the Guardian. Our blog, What We’re Thinking: The Family Court Adviser’s article, explains why we think the anonymous Family Court Adviser has not adequately understood the legal limits of his/her role:

 

The Financial Times – We questioned the Financial Times headline, Family disputes over inheritance surge 36% in 2016 (paywall) in Statistics and Headlines in legal news: controlling the surges:

 

The Mail, Mirror and Sun – We explained how defamation law in England and Wales wouldn’t allow a libel action such as that reported against Mel B, (former Spice Girl), based on the content of her divorce petition. See Spice up Your Life here:

 

Transparency Positives:

 

Channel 4 News – With a report that attracted praise from several commentators about the Times coverage of the Tower Hamlets foster care case, the council’s response, and the publication of the court order:

 

Test Case on BBC Radio 4 – Combining compelling human interest dramatisation with legal accuracy, to bring cases that have changed the legal landscape in the arena of adult social care, to public attention. The 4 episodes in the series are available on BBC I-player here.

 

The Guardian – Linked readers to the online primary source material they reported on in Merseyside social worker struck off for ‘deplorable’ conduct:

 

NEWLY PUBLISHED CASES FOR EXPLANATION OR COMMENT

 

AB (A Child : Case Management Order) [2017] EWFC B53 (29 August 2017) – We interpreted HHJ Sapnara’s detailed Case Management Order, published (unusually) in the wake of media reports about the child’s short term foster placement. See The most secretive court in all of Christendom…above.

 

IN OTHER TRANSPARENCY NEWS

Our comments on the revised Cafcass Framework  – We’ve heard back from Cafcass and responded once more in this blog, including on some omissions and a change to their recording policy:

 

ICYMI At a Glance Table – We followed our blogs on recent media reports with this handy guide to Lasting Powers of Attorney versus Property & Affairs Deputyship 

 

A Rough Guide to the Mental Capacity Act 2005 – And on the subject of handy guides see also this popular newly published guide at The Small Places blog site:

 

Transparency Next Steps– We shared comments by the President about likely next actions on reforming access to the family courts in Some News on Transparency:

 

 

 

Feature pic: Courtesy of Flickr Lauri Heikkinenon via Creative Commons licence – thank