Credits below
Dear All,
There have been a number of articles this week in the media including coverage in The Times as well as an article by Sarah Harman (family lawyer and sister of Harriet Harman, MP) in The Guardian on this issue, which is a further positive step forward in achieving effective public scrutiny of the workings of the Family Courts.
Ms Cavendish in her article raises the important issue of emotional abuse. One area of significant emotional abuse courts fail to effectively address in high conflict family breakdown cases is where one parent, both mothers and fathers, systematically thwarts contact of the children with their former partner for no proven reasons, by involving the children in such a way that forces the children to support this parent’s behaviour and unhealthily influences the children to exclude their other former, loving, nurturing and safe parent from their lives. This behaviour is known worldwide as parental alienation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parental_alienation and http://www.fact.on.ca/Info/pas/willbo97.htm).
The family courts are seeing more and more cases where this type of behaviour is prominent. It is time to effectively address it to ensure children are able to maintain an ongoing relationship with both of their loving,committed and safe parents and extended families following family breakdown – in the best interest’s of these children.
From The Times
July 9, 2009
Straw promises another increase in media scrutiny of family courts
Frances Gibb, Legal Editor
Thousands of cases in the family courts will be exposed to increased public scrutiny under reforms to be announced today by Jack Straw.
Restrictions on what the media can report are to be relaxed and expert witness reports containing details of child abuse allegations may be published.
Mr Straw, the Justice Secretary, will also examine how, subject to safeguards, to allow media access to adoption cases.
Article continues via: http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/law/article6670254.ece
From The TimesJuly 9, 2009
Jack Straw sticks to promises on family courts reporting reformsCamilla Cavendish: Behind the story
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article6670085.ece |
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Opening up our family courts Relaxing reporting restrictions on family courts will improve transparency at little risk to vulnerable children Sarah Harman guardian.co.uk, Thursday 9 July 2009 13.30 BST “The issue of whether or not the family courts should be open to scrutiny by the media has been hotly contested. Those who are aggrieved about their experiences in the courts (sometimes, but not always, with good reason) want to throw more light on the injustices that occur, while some legal practitioners and social workers feel children will suffer from such exposure, and believe that private family disputes concern only the parties involved. But the government has rejected that argument. Today, the justice secretary, Jack Straw, has made further moves to improve family court transparency by not only allowing a media presence in court, which was permitted in changes brought in a few months ago, but in relaxing the present stringent reporting restrictions. These proposals will be welcomed by those who believe that the need to know what goes on in our family courts can be achieved without vulnerable children involved in the court process having their identity exposed. The further relaxation on restrictions on media reporting now proposed by Straw is another step towards balancing society’s legitimate need to know what goes on in all our courts with the need to protect the identity of the families involved A government committee will carefully consider how the media can be allowed to report on the issues raised in cases, and even on the sometimes controversial opinions of court experts, without exposing prurient details of individual families’ lives that might identify them. The steps I took in 2004 were justified, in the public interest and did not expose the child concerned to any possible harm. I look forward to the day when others who wish to take similar action to help their disadvantaged clients can do so while remaining within the law.” Full article accessible via: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/libertycentral/2009/jul/09/family-courts-reporting-restrictions Straw: ‘I want to open family courts’Thursday, July 09, 2009http://www.publicservice.co.uk/news_story.asp?id=10044Justice Secretary Jack Straw is expected to announce that the public and the media will be given greater access to family court cases, including those relating to adoption. This could mean that details of child abuse allegations might be revealed and appear in newspapers, although identities would still be protected.Straw said he was making the changes to the Improving Schools and Safeguarding Children’s Bill – likely to come into effect in the autumn – because journalists had complained that even though they can report the gist of proceedings they can’t report more details without being in contempt of court.“All of this is turning around a tanker,” Straw told The Times. “But the tanker is turning.”
Jack Straw eases family court reporting restrictionsPress Association guardian.co.uk Thursday 9 July 2009 19.31 BST http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/jul/09/media-law-family-courts |
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Kind Regards
Greg Downing
+44 (0) 7733 313200
gdowning@gmail.com
“It is a rare breed of human who can blend a free spirit, a decisive nature, a deep respect for life, love for adventure, and an uncompromising sense of integrity into human happiness and being. Such individuals hear the heartbeat of wholeness.”
“Recognizing that the child, for the full and harmonious development of his or her personality, should grow up in a family environment, in an atmosphere of happiness, love and understanding” Convention on the Rights of the Child
