Family Courts Shake-Up - Jack Straw

by Paul Conneally | December 16, 2008 at 10:43 am

110 views | 0 Recommendations | 0 comments

After the scandal of the Baby P abuse case UK Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice Jack Straw has announced plans to 'open up' the family courts. These courts are where social abuse and other family related cases are heard and social workers giving evidence have always had anonymity.

This is to change with courts having to be open to sharing information in the public realm in an attempt to save other children from the fate of Baby P.

Social workers and local authorities who fail in their duties to families and children will in future be named under radical reforms to open up the family courts.

The move, revealed by Jack Straw, Justice Secretary, in an exclusive interview with The Times, means that in future when social workers or expert witnesses are castigated by judges, they will not have the cover of anonymity.

It follows a series of articles in The Times stretching back three years and highlighting the potential for miscarriages of justice because of the secrecy surrounding family court proceedings.