Family Lawyer’s Guidance on Telling Your Story and Transparency in Children Law Applications

You have come out of a court hearing and been vindicated. You were believed, and it feels great. You probably want to tell everyone your ex got their comeuppance in court. Before you contact the Daily Mail or post on Social Media, you need to know the rules about what you can and cannot say about family law proceedings concerning your children.

Our specialist family law solicitors can help support you through children law proceedings and provide guidance on the rules on confidentiality and transparency.

If you need help with child residence or contact proceedings, phone Evolve Family Law or complete our online enquiry form.

Telling your story

Whilst your experience of a child arrangement order, specific issue order, relocation order, or prohibited steps order proceedings is your story, your child is entitled to their privacy. That’s why judges insist that all court proceedings concerning children are kept confidential.

Parents are not allowed to tell anyone who isn’t a party to the children law court application about the proceedings or to show them court paperwork. There are some exceptions to this rule. For example, your family law solicitor will need to explain to a potential witness why they are asking them to file a statement of evidence on their behalf. Alternatively, your family lawyer may need to ask court permission to disclose relevant court papers to a child psychologist so the expert can prepare a report.

Whilst it is frustrating to be constrained by children law rules, the easiest way to think of the blanket rules is that they are there to protect children who find themselves caught up in child arrangement order or other court proceedings. Children rarely want the story told. If a child is old enough to have a say, they don’t want their friends gossiping, and they are fiercely protective of their privacy.

Speaking about your experience of family court proceedings

Before speaking to third parties about your experience (good or bad) in the family court, it is essential to speak to your lawyer. Get expert advice and follow it as otherwise, you risk a judge finding you in contempt of court. Alternatively, if you breach confidentiality rules after an interim court hearing, you risk the judge at the final hearing refusing to make the orders you want. One example of this is speaking out after findings are made by the judge at a finding of fact hearing. You may be delighted or appalled by the judge’s findings about an incident of domestic violence, but speaking about your experiences and identifying yourself (and, therefore, your child) could massively backfire.

Transparency orders and children law court proceedings

A family court judge can be asked to make a transparency order to allow limited media reporting of a children law application. These orders are rarely made. Also, the information a parent is allowed to give out is strictly controlled.

A current example of a transparency order application made in children law proceedings is a case where a mother accused the child’s father of rape. The father countered her serious domestic violence accusations with an allegation of parental alienation. A judge initially dismissed the mother’s allegation of abuse, but eventually, the court made a finding that the mother had been raped and stripped the father of parental responsibility for his child.

The family court made a rare transparency order allowing the mother to speak to the media and for the press to report her story. However, the order was tight enough to restrict the mother from personally writing or speaking about the case. The mother’s barrister has therefore asked the court to vary the transparency order to allow the mother the freedom to speak out under a pseudonym to tell her story and highlight her experience of the judicial system. The judge is considering the request. Family lawyers await the judgment so they, in turn, can advise other parents on the prospects of securing a transparency order and the scope of the order.

Even if the court extends the transparency order, neither the mother nor the child will be allowed to be named in media reports. However, the mother hopes that if the transparency order is extended, her voice can be heard and that it will be a clarion call to other victims of domestic abuse to stand up for their rights.

Your court experience

As family lawyers, we are acutely aware of how traumatic court hearings and judgments can be. If you are believed, it’s understandable that you want to shout it from the rooftops because you want to highlight what you went through. Talking about your experience can give others the incentive to stand firm and say no to shared parenting or to contact if they don’t think it is in their child’s best interests.

Equally, if a parent has tried to stop contact by making up false allegations, it is equally understandable why the other parent would want to tell their story to give other parents hope. Recounting their judicial experience can highlight the need for additional judicial resources to reduce court delays or extra training so family court professionals understand the need to question one parent’s account rather than accept it at face value.

Whatever your court experience, our family lawyers always urge caution when it comes to talking about child arrangement orders or other children law proceedings. It is easy to type and post online and for your story to be picked up by the media, but you must ask yourself, is this in the best interests of my child, and will I get in trouble because I don’t have a transparency order?

Talk to our family law experts

Whether you are at the start of your journey to securing a child arrangement order or towards the end of it, our children law solicitors can help you navigate the complex family law rules to help you achieve the child arrangement order you seek and to ensure you understand and follow the rules on what you are allowed to report with or without a transparency order in place.

If you need help with child arrangement order proceedings phone Evolve Family Law or complete our online enquiry form.