Young people warn against opening up family courts
Neil Puffett
Wednesday, July 30, 2014
Young people who have experience of care proceedings have spoken out against proposals to open up the family courts to the media and public.
A study by the National Youth Advocacy Service (NYAS) and the Association of Lawyers for Children (ALC) found that the group of young people questioned were unanimously opposed to media attendance at family court hearings.
A total of 11 young people aged between 16 and 25 took part in the study via in-depth interviews.
They were asked a range of questions around proposals to open up family courts to greater scrutiny in order to make judgments, and the process by which they are made, more transparent.
Approved journalists have been allowed to attend family court hearings since 2009 following an attempt to open up the courts by then Labour Justice Secretary Jack Straw, although what they can report is heavily restricted.
Proposals to relax the rules on media reporting of cases, as well as allowing members of the public into court, are currently under consideration by the country’s leading family judge Sir James Munby.
But the report said that the group of young people “was unanimous in opposition to media attendance at hearings”.
It added: “They said the family court is not a public arena and this move represents a failure of parliament to consider and take seriously the views, needs and long-term welfare of the children concerned.
“They argued that increased, meaningful public knowledge about the work of family courts could not be achieved via the media.”
Instead, the young people proposed that the best way to expose mistakes and prevent future miscarriages of justice would be the creation of an “independent, accountable agency”.
The young people said that were media reporting on family court proceedings to be allowed on a case-by-case basis – the court should first ascertain the views, interests and long-term welfare implications for the child, or children, involved.
The young people also warned of the potential implications of details about them being published.
They said emotional problems faced by children could spiral in the face of potential media coverage, leading to serious depression, self-harm and suicide.
They added that, once information is published, public humiliation would follow.
Publication of the report comes just a week after the government pledged to give children a greater voice in both public and private family law cases.
