Thursday 7 December 2006

C4 DOCUMENTARY SERIES TO HELP SEPARATING FAMILIES

A major three-part television series for Channel 4 is being made about separating parents who cannot agree about the care of their children, focussing on the child’s perspective as much as possible and need your help.

Karen Hamilton Productions have contacted EPC with the following message:

“We are an award-winning independent television production company with a reputation for integrity and honesty, that specialises in intelligent, sensitively handled programmes.

This is the first time television has had the opportunity to see what happens when families come in contact with the legal system in an effort to resolve their differences. We have unprecedented access including to the work that CAFCASS does with families. We realise this is a difficult time for parents and children, but would like people to share this common experience in an effort to improve the situation for themselves and also for millions of other families now and in the future.

In order to make an informative and accurate documentary series it is important we speak to parents who are having trouble agreeing about the care of their children who are thinking about or are currently attending family court proceedings in either London or South East England with children of 7 years plus. Each person has a different story and each story we listen to helps us to become better informed about what the situation is like now and the possibilities for change.

After nearly two years of background research and preparation we are now at the stage of talking to parents and would appreciate your input. Any conversation we have would be confidential and would greatly assist with the project. You can contact Lara Leslie directly on 020 7503 1640 (or email lara@khpl.co.uk ) and we can call you back to save your phone bill. Talking to us in no way commits you to taking part in the series. Many thanks in advance for your help."


Please contact Lara direct.

www.EqualParenting.org

Saturday 2 December 2006

Family Court Secrecy - legal position reviewed

SUMMARY OF WEBSTER RULING (Mr Justice Munby)

The birth parents applied to have media attendance at the care proceedings for their fourth child as they claim that serious miscarriages had occurred with the adoption of their previous children and that reporting the issue would help to prevent further injustice. In his judgment, Munby J reviews all the key authorities covering the reporting of family proceedings and concludes that the proceedings should be opened to media representatives.


John Hemmingway MP has looked at Munby's Judgment and analysed what he thinks it means.

John Hemmingway MP says:

"This is important as it means that people can talk publicly about the cases they were involved in - when it has finished - as long as they don't use any of the court documents or discuss what actually happened in court. That is without applying for permission.

The amended information rules from 2005
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2005/20051976.htm
mean that you can send a copy of the judgment to any elected representative or Peer. Elected representative means an MP, AM or MEP. That does not have to be your own elected representative. Anyone with concerns about a judgment can send details to me with a copy of the judgment. Remember, however, that I cannot deal with any substantial load of casework and, therefore, are working in conjunction with affiliated campaigns on casework. It does allow some central recordkeeping as to the nature of problems, however."