Almost 17,000 new-born babies were taken into care in England in the last nine years, a new study from the Centre for Child and Family Justice Research at Lancaster University and the Nuffield Family Justice Observatory has revealed. The study showed that 2,447 new-borns were subject to care proceedings within one week of birth from […]
Forced marriage, FGM and a UWO: The last week in family law
The Home Secretary Sajid Javid has announced a package of measures to tackle the crime of forced marriage. As part of this, a public consultation will be launched to determine whether there should be a mandatory requirement for professionals to report a forced marriage case to the authorities. This will help identify which professionals the […]
Divorce, child maintenance, mediation and civil partnerships: The last week in family law
The latest divorce statistics, for divorces in England and Wales in 2017, have been published by the Office for National Statistics (‘ONS’). The main points included that there were 101,669 divorces of opposite-sex couples in England and Wales in 2017, a decrease of 4.9% compared with 2016, but similar to the number seen in 2015; […]
Divorce rates, child protection and domestic abuse: The last week in family law
UK divorce rates among newlyweds have dropped to their lowest levels in thirty years, according to new analysis by the Marriage Foundation. The proportion of couples divorcing after three years has more than halved since rates peaked in 1993. For couples married for five years, divorce is down by well over a third (39 per […]
Cafcass figures, divorce reform and domestic violence: The last week in family law
The latest figures for care applications and private law demand, for August 2018, have been published by the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (‘Cafcass’), the organisation that represents children in family court cases. In that month the service received a total of 1,179 new care applications. This is 5.1% lower than the […]
No-fault divorce, domestic abuse and child abduction: The last week in family law
A local authority has been ordered to pay the costs of a case by the Court of Protection, after they caused a Colombian woman to be trapped in this country for over three years. In May 2014 the woman collapsed whilst waiting at a bus stop in London. She was taken to hospital and found […]
Child support, advocates for children and a funding crisis: The last two weeks in family law
The latest quarterly statistics on the progress of the Child Support Agency (‘CSA’) child support schemes, to June 2018, have been published by the Department for Work and Pensions. As the statistical bulletin explains, in 2012 the Child Maintenance Service was created to replace the CSA, and cases managed by the CSA are being closed, […]
Civil partnerships, enforcement and child costs: The last week in family law
The Office for National Statistics has published its latest annual statistics on formations and dissolutions of civil partnerships, for 2017, analysed by the sex, age, and previous marital status of the couples and the place of registration. Amongst the main points were that there were 908 civil partnerships formed in England and Wales in 2017, […]
Refuges, legal aid and domestic abuse: The last week in family law
Housing benefit will be kept in place for all those living in supported housing, the Government has announced. Supported housing provides a home to some of the most vulnerable people in society, including refuges for those fleeing domestic violence. Last year the Government published proposals on new ways of funding supported housing, which it was […]
Financial remedies, Islamic marriage and domestic abuse: The last week in family law
The outgoing President of the Family Division Sir James Munby has published a circular announcing a further roll-out of the piloting of specialist Financial Remedies Courts. The Courts were first piloted in the West Midlands, centred at Birmingham. They will now be extended, in a modified form, including to the East Midlands, Cheshire and Merseyside, […]
