The 'Secret' Family Court: Fact Or Fiction?
For approaching two decades, family courts have been accused of making life changing decisions about children and who they live with made in secret, away from the scrutiny of the public gaze. Recognising the force of these accusations, senior family courts judges have, over that time, implemented a raft of rule changes, pilot projects and judicial guidance aimed at making the family justice more accountable and transparent. But has any progress been made? Are there still suspicions that family judges make irrevocable, unaccountable decisions in private hearings? And if so, are those suspicions justified and what can be done to dispel them? In this important and timely new book, Clifford Bellamy, a recently retired family judge who has been at the sharp end of family justice during all these changes, attempts to answer those questions and more. He has spoken to leading journalists, judges and academic researchers to find out what the obstacles to open reporting are – be they legal, economic or cultural - and interweaves their insights with informed analysis on how the laws regulating family court reporting operate. Along the way he provides a comprehensive review of the raft of initiatives he has seen come and go, summarises the position now and uses this experience to suggest how this fundamental aspect of our justice system could adapt in the face of this criticism. Every professional working in the family justice system – lawyers, social workers, court staff and judges - as well as those who job it is to report on legal affairs, should read this informative, nuanced exposition of what open justice means and why it matters so much to those whose lives are upended by the family justice system.
For approaching two decades, family courts have been accused of making life changing decisions about children and who they live with made in secret, away from the scrutiny of the public gaze. Recognising the force of these accusations, senior family courts judges have, over that time, implemented a raft of rule changes, pilot projects and judicial guidance aimed at making the family justice more accountable and transparent.
But has any progress been made? Are there still suspicions that family judges make irrevocable, unaccountable decisions in private hearings? And if so, are those suspicions justified and what can be done to dispel them?
In this important and timely new book, Clifford Bellamy, a recently retired family judge who has been at the sharp end of family justice during all these changes, attempts to answer those questions and more. He has spoken to leading journalists, judges and academic researchers to find out what the obstacles to open reporting are – be they legal, economic or cultural - and interweaves their insights with informed analysis on how the laws regulating family court reporting operate. Along the way he provides a comprehensive review of the raft of initiatives he has seen come and go, summarises the position now and uses this experience to suggest how this fundamental aspect of our justice system could adapt in the face of this criticism.
Every professional working in the family justice system – lawyers, social workers, court staff and judges - as well as those who job it is to report on legal affairs, should read this informative, nuanced exposition of what open justice means and why it matters so much to those whose lives are upended by the family justice system.
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Table of cases<br />
A G (Nova Scotia) v MacIntyre [1982] 1 SCR 175 1<br />
B and P v United Kingdom [2001] ECHR 298 13, 221<br />
Baron & <strong>Or</strong>s (4 Defective Divorces) [2019] EWFC 26 74<br />
BBC v Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council and X and Y<br />
[2005] EWHC 2862 (Fam) 117<br />
Bergens Tidende v Norway (2001) 31 EHRR 16 158<br />
British Broadcasting Corporation v Cafcass Legal and others<br />
[2007] EWHC 616 (Fam) 125<br />
Clayton v Clayton [2006] EWCA Civ 878 17<br />
Clibbery v Allen [2002] EWCA Civ 45 11<br />
Diennet v France (1995) 21 EHRR 544 11<br />
Dorset Council v A [2019] EWFC 62 178<br />
Dr A v Ward [2010] EWHC 16 (Fam) 117, 126<br />
Gillick v West Norfolk and Wisbech Area Health Authority and Another<br />
[1985] UKHL 7 211, 230<br />
In re Guardian News and Media Ltd [2010] UKSC 1 76<br />
In re S (A Child) (Identification: Restrictions on Publication)<br />
[2004] UKHL 47 17, 220, 226<br />
In the matter of A (A Child) [2015] EWFC 11 119<br />
In the matter of an application by Gloucestershire County Council for the<br />
committal to prison of Matthew John Newman<br />
[2014] EWHC 3136 (Fam) 118<br />
In the matter of the B children, X Council v B and others<br />
[2004] EWHC 2015 (Fam) 114<br />
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