Drawn to our attention today in a tweet by Sarah Phillimore of www.childprotectionresource.org.uk is CAFCASS’s guidance on covert recording by parents. While the guidance isn’t new, it’s something worth reminding people of.
The guidance is included in the CAFCASS Operating Framework (click to download).
The guidance is set out between sections 2.26 to 2.31 of the Framework.
His Honour Judge Bellamy expresses his views on secrecy in the family courts and the campaign efforts to open proceedings to scrutiny. Within this, he also issues a practice note to the local court in Leicester, setting out considerations for the publishing of judgments.
The main points of that guidance are listed below: Continue reading New Guidance for Local Courts on Transparency in Family Justice
An important judgment and essential reading for those who assist litigants-in-person. Continue reading Important Judgment – Re T (A Child) (Suspension of contact) (Section 91(14) CA 1989) [2015] EWCA Civ 719
Four ‘freepacks’ are back up on our site, and with content available to download now:
We offer 100 free online guides as well as court forms, draft court orders and case law which form part of our family law app. This content runs to over 1.5million words. Over 100 court judgments are included, and formatted as pdf files for download and printing.
We’ve 7 online family law quizzes currently available, and three can be downloaded for training purposes (including both questions and answers):
A new study looks at the experience of solicitors representing adults with learning difficulties in care proceedings. The study relates to UK proceedings (in case there’s any confusion about the author of the article being based in Australia).
Read the article: Parents with learning disabilities: Solicitors critical of assumptions and prejudice in the system
We won’t repeat the article but recommend you read it and we’ll move on to matters relating to litigants-in-person with specific learning difficulties in private family law proceedings. Continue reading Learning Difficulties, Disadvantage and Family Law
The mother´s having placed obstacles in the way of contact was a factor in leave to remove being refused. The mother’s arguments were unduly critical of the father and she could not think of a single positive thing to say about him. Her focus had been on the maternal family whereas it should have been on the child’s needs and his parents.
The judge did not accept she would be devastated but disappointed. The judge usefully bullet points the matters he weighed when considering the case before him. The mother’s application for leave to remove was refused.
On the weekend I was asked what goes through my head (not the first time in the last week) when working on arguments in leave to remove cases. The question “are they very difficult to stop” raises the response “no, but you can’t hope to just walk into court without detailed preparation and get a good result”. You need to have facts pertinent to the individual case to work with and build the arguments around those facts. You need to prepare thoroughly. There are pitfalls too to be avoided and these are discussed further on. Continue reading Leave to Remove Guidance for the non-relocating parent
The British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) has published findings of professional malpractice in respect of Karen Woodall, a therapist specialising in work with families where parental alienation is a factor. The BACP is the UK’s largest professional body representing 40,000 counsellor/therapist members.
Parts of the complaint (upheld) relate to Ms Woodall providing a written assessment on the family including opinion that the child ‘is suffering from…’ and ‘I make this diagnosis…’ when she had not in fact met the child at that time. Other findings relate to a lack of clarity in respect of fees and the nature of services offered. Continue reading Parental alienation counsellor Karen Woodall sanctioned for malpractice
There’s continued discussion on social media and legal media about lobbying to reverse cuts to legal aid. Today’s quote was the Chairman of the Bar saying “We believe access to justice is a fundamental part of the rule of law and are doing all we can to help limit the impact upon those who find themselves in this dire situation. However, there is only so far the legal sector can go in tackling this problem. It won’t go away unless the cuts to civil legal aid are restored so that those of limited means can, again, have proper access to justice.”
It’s wrong that one party gets free representation if making allegations of domestic violence yet the accused gets no help at all. We should remember though that before legal aid cuts came in, many didn’t qualify for legal aid but couldn’t afford a solicitor. If there is to be the access to justice that the Bar calls for, eligibility criteria needs to be far more realistic than was previously the case.
Regardless of that debate, there’s another which seems to be ignored entirely. The shameful lack of funding to assist parents whose children are abducted abroad to non-Hague Convention countries. We should also not forget those parents whose children are abducted to a Hague Convention country, in instances where the foreign state does not comply with return orders or where there are protracted appeals abroad. Legal costs can (and do) run into six figure sums and at times appeals take years to conclude. Continue reading Lobbying for legal aid, but silence for those most in need
For any father not currently seeing their kids, if we receive an email from you today on Father’s Day, we’ll send you download links for one of our guide packs… free. Continue reading For Father’s Day – Featured Guide Packs are Free Today
