‘A woman who faked her own pregnancy after years of infertility has been convicted of smuggling a child into Britain after apparently buying it from a Nigerian “baby farm” and passing it off as her own.’
The Independent, 6th February 2015
Source: www.independent.co.uk
‘The first two reported cases of the year in the Family Court are both concerned with the difficulties litigants – not to mention practitioners, and the courts – are now faced with when trying to navigate the legal aid system. The first – about which we posted here – concerned an unrepresented father who couldn’t get legal aid despite needing to cross-examine a child who had accused him of abuse, leading to the court to order that he be funded outside the legal aid scheme.’
Full story
Legal Aid Handbook, 11th January 2015
Source: www.legalaidhandbook.com
‘The president of the Family Division has described as ‘unconscionable’ delays over legal aid funding which have held up a case concerning the removal of a child from his parents.’
7th January 2015
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
‘A couple left in “agony” to fight against the enforced adoption of their three-year-old son could be forgiven for thinking they are trapped in a system which is “neither compassionate nor even humane,” the most senior family court judge in England and Wales has said.’
The Guardian, 7th January 2015
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
In re R (A Child) [2014] EWCA Civ 1625; [2014] WLR (D) 539
‘In re B-S (Children) (Adoption Order: Leave to Oppose) [2014] 1 WLR 563 had not been intended to change and had not changed the law; it was primarily directed to practice. Where adoption was in the child’s best interests local authorities were not to shy away from seeking, nor courts from making, care orders with a plan for adoption, placement orders and adoption orders.’
WLR Daily, 16th December 2014
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
‘Sir James Munby seeks to head off collapse in adoption placements warning that children could be put at risk by new obsession with keeping them with relatives ‘at all costs’.’
Full story
Daily Telegraph, 16th December 2014
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
‘Lance Dodgson, barrister of Bank House Chambers, considers the changes concerning post-adoption contact made by the Children and Families Act 2014 and asks what effect they will have in practice.’
Family Law Week, 11th November 2014
Source: www.familylawweek.co.uk
‘John Tughan, barrister, of 4 Paper Buildings reviews recent important judgments in public law children cases.’
Family Law Week, 5th November 2014
Source: www.familylawweek.co.uk
‘A student with a history of severe mental illness has been told by a family court judge that her toddler son must be adopted.’
The Guardian, 3rd November 2014
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
‘One of Britain’s most senior judges has launched a withering attack on cuts to legal aid after a couple with learning disabilities was not provided with a lawyer to fight the forced adoption of their two-year-old son.’
The Independent, 31st October 2014
Source: www.independent.co.uk
‘A “change of circumstances” for the purposes of an application for permission to apply to revoke a placement order under section 24 of the Adoption and Children Act 2002 had to be a change which had occurred since the making of the placement order and whichwas relevant to the circumstances of the case. It would be unacceptable to exclude any change in circumstances to the children who were the subject of the orders.’
WLR Daily, 21st October 2014
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
‘Life is a mysterious journey, often attended with hazards matching those in The Lord of the Rings. However, as TV programmes such as Who Do You Think You Are? illustrate, we all have a deep need to understand our place in the world and how we came to inhabit our own ‘mortal coil’. This can be particularly poignant for adopted people and their successors.’
Law Society’s Gazette, 13th October 2014
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
In re X (Adopted Child: Access to Court File)[2014] EWFC 33; [2014] WLR (D) 390
‘Since FPR 2010 r 14.24 was not subject to the qualification that it applied only “in exceptional circumstances” there was nothing which required the same approach to apply in the case of an application under rule 14.24 (or its predecessors) as applied in the case of an application under section 79(4) of the Adoption and Children Act 2002 although, given the context, an application under rule 14.24 should always be approached with an appropriate degree of caution.’
WLR Daily, 9th September 2014
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
‘A woman has been granted permission to look at court files relating to her father’s adoption to discover the identity of her grandmother, in a ground-breaking judgment that sets a precedent for revealing secret family histories.’
The Guardian, 9th September 2014
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
‘In this inaugural surrogacy update, Andrew Powell, barrister, of 4 Paper Buildings reviews recent judgments in the High Court.’
Family Law Week, 4th September 2014
Source: www.familylawweek.co.uk
‘The names of couples’ mothers are to be added to marriage registers for the first time as the government addresses “another inequality in marriage” by introducing the first reforms to the system in more than 150 years, David Cameron has announced.’
The Guardian, 18th August 2014
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
‘A couple from Hertfordshire who had their five-month-old baby taken off them because they refused to name him, have won the right to appeal the decision.’
Daily Telegraph, 1st August 2014
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
‘The Home Office has suspended a passport official and ordered a disciplinary investigation after the employee subjected a gay father-of-two to a lengthy interrogation about his sexual history and the details of his adoptions in front of the man’s four-year-old son.’
The Guardian, 13th July 2014
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
‘In this successful appeal against care and placement orders in respect of a young infant with Polish parents, the Court of Appeal were sharply critical of comments made by the first instance judge which made it clear he had closed his mind at an early stage to the possibility of the baby being looked after by her grandparents in Poland. The Court held that both the judge and the local authority had failed to give sufficient weight to their positive obligation under Article 8 to consider ways of retaining a child within the family.’
UK Human Rights Blog, 10th July 2014
Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com
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