Reporting from family courts in England and Wales is set to increase, with a pilot scheme being expanded to cover almost half the courts in the countries. Currently, journalists and legal bloggers can report cases from just three courts. But from 29 January, coverage will be extended to 16 more family court centres, meaning 19 of England and Wales’s 43 centres will be part of the Transparency Pilot. Parents and social workers will remain anonymous, but local authorities and certain experts may be named in reporting with a Transparency Order.
At the family courts that are part of the Transparency Pilot, reporters will be allowed to speak to families about their cases, quote from documents and describe what they see and hear in court. There has long been criticism of the family courts, as judges have the power to separate children from their parents and place them in care or up for adoption. In separating parents, the courts also decide where children should live and how much contact they should have with each parent, with many of these cases concerning allegations of domestic abuse.
The BBC has reported extensively from the three pilot courts, and will continue to cover family court stories in the pilot and expansion centres. Family Rights Group, which supports many of those involved in such cases, has warmly welcomed the pilot’s extension, saying it would help provide a “mechanism” to make the family court system accountable and transparent. It also urged the scheme be backed with sufficient resources, with children and their families should be central to any evaluation of it
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