Government calls for greater secrecy in Family Courts

2.20.30pm UTC (GMT +0000) Fri 22nd Jun 2007

Opposing greater secrecy: John Hemming MP

The Government has released a consultation paper which calls for more secrecy in the Family Courts.

John Hemming MP, Chairman of Justice for Families, said: "The government are actually proposing more secrecy in family court proceedings than exists at the moment. There are clearly many miscarriages of justice. However, the government want to prevent parents campaigning against the miscarriages of justice by preventing them talking about their children after a court case."

"This is fundamentally wrong. There is a reasonable argument for the Family Courts to act in a similar manner to youth justice. However, for the government to aim to tighten up secrecy by introducing new rules to prevent the press talking about the parents and children in a case after the end of the case is basically wrong."

"Babies are being taken into care merely to satisfy the government's adoption targets. The government's response, however, is to act to stop parents complaining about this."

"The secrecy in Family Courts acts generally to protect misbehaviour by some professionals rather than to protect children. In other countries there is less secrecy, although there is a reasonable amount of privacy."

Related Links:

John Hemming's Weblog.

Government Consultation Paper on Family Courts.