Family Procedure Rule Committee news: January – April 2009 – Ministry of Justice
“The Family Procedure Rule Committee has published details of its work between January and April 2009.”
Ministry of Justice, 5th June 2009
Source: www.justice.gov.uk
Category: family courts
Court takes child of ‘stupid’ mother – The Times
“When Rachel celebrated her daughter’s third birthday three weeks ago the little girl was a picture of happiness. Yet for her mother it was a bittersweet occasion.”
The Times, 31st May 2009
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
Family courts system accused of hiding evidence from parents – The Times
“Parents fighting in the family courts for contact with their children are being denied access to their personal files by a corrupt system, a leading parental rights campaigner has said.”
The Times, 29th April 2009
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
At last, we go behind the closed doors of family courts – The Times
“Yesterday morning I finally walked through a door that used to be marked ‘keep out’. It was an eerie feeling. The guards and clerks at Ipswich County Court were polite, but nervous. One admitted he was a bit shocked by the arrival of two Times journalists. I felt a bit shocked, too — by the banality of the set-up, in contrast to the bitter heartaches it contains.”
The Times, 28th April 2009
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
Justice gets jittery when ‘family court’ doors finally open – The Independent
“The revolution in coverage of the courts has been set back by ‘shambolic’ enforcement of the new rules. Cahal Milmo reports.”
The Independent, 28th April 2009
Source: www.independent.co.uk
Questions remain as family courts open to press – The Times
“Thousands of family courts are opened to the media for the first time today, amid fears that stringent reporting restrictions will make a mockery of the reform.”
The Times, 27th April 2009
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
Revealed: The Human Cost of Proposed Cuts to Family Legal Aid Dossier of Case Studies Submitted to Ministers – The Bar Council
“The potential human cost of denying vulnerable families and children access to expert legal support in care and related cases is revealed today in a dossier of case studies, which shows the difficulties which are already being encountered by family barristers as they seek to represent their clients to the best of their abilities.”
The Bar Council, 21st April 2009
Source: www.barcouncil.org.uk
The media in divorce courts – a blackmailers’ charter – The Times
“Two family lawyers assess the impact of new rules allowing the media the right to attend all divorce court hearings.”
The Times, 23rd April 2009
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
Family courts: now we can judge parents’ stories for ourselves – The Times
“The opening up of family courts to the media is a step in the right direction, argues a senior family lawyer.”
The Times, 23rd April 2009
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
‘Families risk losing children’ under £6.5m legal aid cuts – The Times
“Parents accused of abuse who risk losing their children may be forced to represent themselves in court under proposed cuts to family legal aid, judges and lawyers have warned.”
The Times, 15th April 2009
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
Barrister Belle Turner says she can’t work at new legal aid rates – The Times
“Belle Turner, a leading junior barrister about to give birth to her first child, is ‘sad and angry’ about the planned cuts to family legal aid.”
The Times, 15th April 2009
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
When the stakes are so high, parents want to be heard – The Times
“The detail of the Ministry of Justice reforms, published this week, makes clear for the first time that although the family courts will be opened to the press on April 27, they will not be quite as open as we had expected. Buried in a short paragraph is the information that judges will have wide grounds to refuse journalists permission to publish the details of a case they have just heard.”
The Times, 10th April 2009
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
Openness of family courts is a ‘con trick’ – The Times
“Jack Straw has been accused of a confidence trick over plans to open the family courts to the media.”
The Times, 10th April 2009
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
Family courts open to media but not bloggers – The Times
“Thousands of family hearings that take place behind closed doors will be opened to media this month, Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary, said yesterday.”
The Times, 7th April 2009
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
Family courts: the poor and most vulnerable are paying dearly – The Times
“Happily most people will never meet a family law barrister professionally. Those who do, however, will almost certainly be at a time of great crisis in their life. From an acrimonious breakdown of a marriage or civil partnership to the State intervening to remove children who medical or social work professionals believe (rightly or wrongly) to have been abused, any family from any background may find themselves litigating before the family courts. I remember one week when I represented both a prostitute and a peer of the realm (not, on this occasion, in the same case).”
The Times, 25th March 2009
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
Senior judge warns that changes will not open up family courts – The Times
“Ministers’ plans to open the family courts to the media have been hailed as a signifiant reform. But is all as it seems? The proposals are coming under fire — and not just from disgruntled members of the public who will still be denied access to the hearings. ”
The Times, 24th March 2009
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
Children’s lawyers and NSPCC renew calls for inquiry into access to family justice – The Bar Council
“Lawyers acting for vulnerable children and families have today joined forces with the leading children’s charity, the NSPCC, to call for a Parliamentary inquiry into the state of the family justice system.”
The Bar Council, 16th March 2009
Source: www.barcouncil.org.uk
Vulnerable women and children bear brunt of cuts in family justice system – The Bar Council
“Expert family barristers are being driven away from their work to represent the interests of vulnerable women and children as a result of repeated cuts in legal aid pay, a new report says.”
The Bar Council, 9th March 2009
Source: www.barcouncil.org
Women and children ‘at risk as family courts reach breaking point’ – The Times
“The family courts system is at ‘breaking point’ and thousands of vulnerable women and children at risk of abuse are going without legal help, according to a report.”
The Times, 6th March 2009
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
