Family Law

In The Secret Family Court – Fact or Fiction? [published by Bath Publishing in March 2020] I argue that debate about whether hearings in the Family Court are held ‘in secret’ or ‘in private’ is arid and pointless. It has undermined public confidence in the family justice system. What matters more is that much of what happens in the family court is not ‘open justice’ in the sense in which that expression has been understood for more than a century.

Since publication, Roberts J has given judgment in Newman v Southampton City Council & Ors [2020] EWHC 2103 (Fam). In June 2015 a 2 ½ year old girl was removed from her mother by the police. She was not returned to her mother’s care until August 2018, after a placement order had been overturned by the Court of Appeal. A second hearing in the Court of Appeal overturned a reporting restrictions order. The history of this family’s experience of the family justice system raises profound concerns. Something went very badly wrong. But what? The three published judgments do not adequately answer that question. A journalist, Melanie Newman, applied to have sight of the court file. She was not successful. In this article I assess the decision of Roberts J and its impact on the ‘watchdog’ role of the journalist in this case.

The full article will be published in the November issue of Family Law. 

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