New guidance for judges on anonymisation practices and changes to the treatment of graphic descriptions of the sexual abuse of children in family court judgments has been published today.
The Nuffield-funded study, by Julia Brophy and Marisol Smith with Jagbir Jhutti-Johal, evaluates Practice Guidance issued by the President of the Family Division in 2018. The Practice Guidance helps judges to improve the anonymisation of children judgements placed on the British and Irish Legal Information Institute (BAILII) – a public website.
Many family court judgments involving children are now published on BAILII website. This is important as it helps make the decision-making process of judges more transparent and give us a better understanding of the complex work they undertake when making the most profound decisions about the immediate and future safety and welfare of children and young people.
However, according to the President of the Family Division’s Practice Guidance issued in 2018, unless these judgements are properly anonymised and graphic descriptions of sexual abuse/rape of children are summarised and abridged, information in these judgements can compromise the anonymity and future safety of children and young people.
Even if the judgment does not include personal information about a child (for example, a name or age) sometimes information that is specific to a child or their family can be linked to information from other sources (for example, criminal proceedings against a family member) and this can enable the identification of a child.
The information currently available in some family court judgments involving children – and shared online – is deeply troubling.
The report highlights a serious challenge in resolving a complex issue where detailed information in judgments may expose already vulnerable children to further risk. It offers a way forward to assist judges and family justice professionals – on both meeting the need for transparency in the work of family court judges while also prioritising the privacy rights and welfare and safeguarding needs of some of our most vulnerable children.
Key recommendations
Constructive recommendations for change from the report include operational changes to better implement Practice Guidance and two crucial priorities for judicial practice:
- A halt to posting judgments concerning the sexual abuse of children, and the removal of those already posted, pending a review and full implementation of Guidance on these judgments.
- No automatic presumption of ‘posting’ of public law children judgments, and a pause in posting children judgments pending the operational changes made in the report.
Findings from the report will be provided to the President of the Family Division to support the forthcoming Family Division’s Transparency Review.
