Major update to the Expert Letter of Instruction
The draft letter of instruction for experts in the articles section has had a major overhaul this month.
Nuffield Research on Contact to Children in Care during Covid 19 crisis
New research project: Understanding how children’s connections to birth families are being managed during social isolation and lockdown – 3rd Apr 2020 https://www.nuffieldfjo.org.uk/news/childrens-connections-families-social-isolation The research team is looking for families and practitioners to share their experiences of maintaining contact between children and their birth relatives during the crisis. This could be social workers, guardians, contact…
Coronavirus & Family Law
Everyone has enough on their plate to deal with at the moment and may be finding it very difficult to keep up with the impact on family law cases of the Coronavirus as guidance is constantly being issued and then updated. As Lucy Reed bemoans over at Pink Tape we need some guidance on the…
Intermediaries & How To Get One
It is perhaps surprising that family law and child care cases in particular have taken so long to provide systematic support for vulnerable parties. It is now possible to ask the court to consider appointing an intermediary – someone specialised in communication (often through studying psychology or speech & language therapy) – who can provide…
s 20: costs, compensation and the Legal Aid Agency
I am reliably informed that a court has in one case dealt with the issue of making a compensation payment to a parent whose child had been accommodated under s 20 for a long time without proper consent being obtained. The court has made both a costs order against the local authority and an award…
s 17 & Child Arrangements Orders – policy strait jackets & the impact on families in care proceedings
An issue recently arose in a case where a mother had agreed that her children should live temporarily with their grandmother, a month later gave s 20 consent for this and a month later the local authority issued proceedings. At the first hearing it was agreed that a child arrangements order should be made in…
Interim care orders: a recent case
As you will know if you look at my article on Interim Removal taking a child away before a final hearing is something of an uphill struggle. In C (A Child) (Refusal to Make an Interim Care Order) Mr Justice Holman declined to make an interim care order – though as he says himself – other judges…
Litigants in Person & Bundles
I came across a curious issue the other day. A solicitor representing the other side informed a litigant in person that under the rules, because he was unrepresented (he was by me, but by Direct Access), the solicitor was obliged to produce the bundle for the case (about contact). The rule says: Responsibility for…
Panorama on Shaken Baby
Panorama on Monday 14th March is about Shaken Baby – 8.30 BBC 1
Judgment transcripts: costs & other issues
I am grateful to Nicola Jones-King of McMillan Williams & Jerry Bull of Atkins Hope who have provided the following thoughts on legal aid paying for judgment transcripts. The Legal Aid Agency’s position is that it will only cover a shared cost of transcript where it is needed to progress the case, and/or the reason…
