The government will introduce a family justice bill and is calling for ideas
on its content, Department for Constitutional Affairs minister Harriet
Harman said today (30 October 2006).
 
http://www.communitycare.co.uk/Articles/2006/10/30/101982/Minister+asks+for+
ideas+on+family+justice+to+include+in+new.html
 
I'm sure we all who've been involved with adoption in England & Wales will
have a few ideas we could pass on to Ms Harman re the Family Courts.

From the Guardian
Clare Dyer, legal editor
Tuesday October 31, 2006
 
http://www.guardian.co.uk/frontpage/story/0,,1935575,00.html

<quote>
 
.... The bill incorporating the reforms would open hearings in the family
courts to accredited journalists in an effort to counter allegations of
"secret justice" and restore confidence in the family justice system.
Hearings are currently held behind closed doors.
 
"It is of great concern that there is a lack of confidence in the family
courts," Ms Harman told a conference in central London yesterday, held to
mark the end of a public consultation by the Department for Constitutional
Affairs on opening the courts
..
"Fathers complain of bias against them and failure to enforce contact
orders. Mothers complain that the court orders them to give contact to
dangerous fathers who threaten violence against both the mother and the
child. And the courts are accused of taking children away from loving
families and placing them for adoption. And at the same time the courts are
accused of leaving children too long with parents who are a danger to them.
 
"It is impossible to defend a system from accusations of bias and
discrimination if it operates behind closed doors," she said.

<end quote>

I wonder what an "accredited journalist" would be, how would he or she
differ from any other journalist?


Robin Harritt

http://harritt.eu

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