Family court cases highlighted by the media should be investigated for any failures to protect children and other vulnerable victims, the President of the Family Division has claimed. Speaking at a recent conference on domestic abuse held by legal charity Support Through Court (formerly known as the Personal Support Unit), Sir Andrew McFarlane endorsed the interest taken by some newspapers in the family court system, noting that two are currently running campaigns on the issue. But he highlighted a disconnect between the personal accounts often given to journalists and the rulings subsequently published, which are routinely anonymised: “In almost every…
A mother who had pressured her children into rejecting their father must allow them to build a healthy relationship, a family court judge has ruled. During a High Court session in Brighton, His Honour Judge Bedford noted that disputes between the parents dated back many years. “The two children in this case have been the subject of litigation, on and off, for much of their lives, one child being aged 11 years and 5 months and the other children being 10 years and one month. “ He explained: “Fortunately for the children, contact took place on a regular basis following the…
There’s no question about it: successfully co-parenting your children after divorce or separation can be a challenge. It requires mutual goodwill, patience and commitment: all virtues which are easier listed than practiced, of course. Most parents want the best for their children, and are perfectly willing to work hard to ensure their happiness and welfare. They know that contact with both parents – whenever possible – has an important role to play. But it’s all too easy to lose sight of the latter principle if your marriage or relationship ended acrimoniously. Parents filled with bitterness towards their former spouse or…
The number of births to mothers born outside the UK fell last year for the first time since 1990. Two years ago 28.4 per cent of live births fell into that category, but this had dropped to 28.2 per cent by 2018 according to new figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Of a total of 471,476 live births, 185,569 were born to the mothers from outside the UK. Poland and Pakistan were the two commonest countries of origin, but the proportion from both nations also fell in 2018. The majority of foreign-born fathers were also Pakistani. This has…
