The Government is currently preparing a consultation on opening up thefamily courts that may recommend allowing cases to be heard inpublic.
At present, family cases in magistrates' courts are heard in public, butthose in county courts and the High Court are heard in private, with themedia and the public excluded.
Alastair MacDonald, joint chair of the association, warned that theadvantages of greater openness must be balanced carefully against theinherent risks to the welfare of children.
"Those risks range from the detrimental effect on the child within thecommunity of greater publicity to the negative impact on the willingnessof witnesses to give evidence," he said.
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