Centre Launch Oct 2022

The RSE-funded Research Network Launch of the Centre for Child and Family Law and Policy

 

Summary

This brief Report details the Royal Society of Edinburgh-funded Research Network Launch of the Centre for Child and Family Law and Policy, which took place on Thursday 6th October 2022. It summarises suggestions for future events, and projects the Network members would like to explore personally.

Launch

Thursday 6th October 2022 saw the Royal Society of Edinburgh-funded Research Network Launch of the Centre for Child and Family Law and Policy at ENU, held at the Bruntsfield hotel in Edinburgh, with online provision for remote attendees.

The day was graced by three splendid keynote speakers: Lady Wise, Senator of the College of Justice; Professor Jane Mair of the University of Glasgow, and Juliet Harris of Together, the Scottish Alliance for Children’s Rights. All three keynote speeches addressed the theme of ‘Contemporary opportunities and challenges in Scots Family Law’. The keynotes were all stimulating and complemented each other perfectly, with insights from judicial practice, academia, and the work being done to implement the United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child.

The afternoon round-table sessions addressed versions of the same questions: How do you envisage the future of family law? What change do you think is imminent? What change would you like to see? What are the current opportunities? Where do you see current challenges? And…what topics would you like to see covered in future workshops / conferences?

These discussions generated excellent ideas for future workshops. There was very strong interest in:

 

  • The implications of The Marriage and Civil Partnership (Minimum Age) Act 2022 in England and Wales, including questions about whether Scotland ought to follow suit, and concerns that this might impact the age of consent to sex. 

Other suggestions centered around:

 

  • The regulation of relationships (the contemporary family; cohabitation protection; the regulation of parenthood, including domestic and international surrogacy, and domestic and international adoption; outlaws in child and family law); 

  • Children’s rights (how best to give effect to these; whether a legal response to children’s rights is the best way forward; anticipated significant litigation on the incorporation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child; sibling rights; what does ‘meaningful participation’ mean to a child?; adults making decisions for children; child offenders; 16-18 year-olds and multiple overlapping jurisdictions; ‘pre-proceedings’ in relation to pre-proceedings in the field of children’s social care); 

  • Appropriate dispute resolution (a greater use of Alternative Dispute Resolution; non-court alternatives to ADR for domestic abuse cases; the need to find out how people are privately ordering their family relationships; more imaginative means of enforcing contact orders;); 

  • Access to justice and resource allocation in the Family justice system (the legal aid crisis; the impact of austerity measures; advocacy services for children and all vulnerable people; the need to integrate the Family, civil and criminal justice systems; streamlining services, including online provision; ‘family fairness’; should family justice/courts have their own division – away from the civil law search for a winner and loser?; comparative access to justice legal aid project looking at the position in England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland); 

  • Domestic abuse (the operation/effectiveness of the current justice system ; women’s and men’s experiences in contact cases where there are allegations of domestic abuse; the need to improve awareness of domestic abuse among judges and practitioners, especially the power dynamics in relationships; the sidelining of domestic abuse in the assumption that contact with a non-resident parent is always best);

  • Safety in the Family law system (the need for Family Law professionals to become more trauma-informed, to protect their clients and themselves from re-traumatisation; safer physical and mental spaces for children to talk about issues affecting them); 

  • Making the law more effective (proactively educating the public about the content of the law; the need for better reporting and information about Scots law cases; could the laws we have be used more effectively, considering e.g. the proliferation of domestic abuse legislation); 

  • Particularly vulnerable persons (children with mental disorders and adults who do not have capacity; the ‘rights’ of learning-disabled parents):

  • Gender self-identity from a Family Law perspective, and

  • Comparison between Scots and English Family Law

We welcomed  in-person attendees from the Scottish Government, legal practice and the third sector academics of varying disciplines, , from across Scotland and the UK. Our online attendees hailed from Scotland, the UK, and Europe, including delegates from France, Hungary, Ireland, Poland, and Slovenia, including academics from Law, Theology, and Gender Studies. Although we had some technical issues, which we will address for our next events, we were delighted that our online participants were able to contribute to and feedback on the roundtable discussion, and by virtue of Dr Becca Williams’ good offices, contribute to the physical post-it pledges and expressions of interest.

The final activity of the day asked people to name (on a Post-it) a project that they would like to explore or commit to, and bring this to the front. These projects are as follows (with the caveat that when I collected the physical Post-its, it was not always clear which were projects for the Centre, and which commitments to undertake or explore):

  • Working on transparency in the family courts – access to data

  • Access to justice and independent advocacy

  • Following up on the Children’s section of the Scottish Mental Health Law Review (The Scott Review)

  • UK vs international approaches/jurisdictions to Family Law, and cross-border considerations

  • Exploring how film/video can be used as a tool for survivors of domestic abuse

  • Care proceedings and impact on the child, and children’s voices in family proceedings. Local Authority care and protection proceedings and the courts. Justice and sharing data.

  • Creation of a safe space (with access to the police / a refuge / legal advice) for any vulnerable adult or young person trying to escape abuse / forced marriage.

  • An international comparative project on child support schemes

  • Identify resources that are already available in the Network and share access

  • Mapping out the boundaries and overlaps between child and adult law – Children’s Hearings, adult support and protection, mental health, additional support needs, adults with incapacity etc., for 16-18 year-olds and beyond

  • A wider survey of the views of children and young people on their experience of parental separation – the whole population, not just those with domestic abuse experience

  • Training and support for separated parents – what is available and what should be provided

  • Creating safe spaces for women and children from all backgrounds to talk about their family issues (other than e.g. counsel’s office or in court)

  • Re-thinking how relationships are thought about / conceptually re-imagining ‘family’

  • Putting children at the centre of Family Law (or at least not at the periphery)

  • The interaction between civil and criminal law involving families

  • Explore joint work between family law centre and centre for mental health and capacity law

  • Follow up with colleagues about future work

  • Explore environmental rights of the child

  • Potential collaboration with academics from other jurisdictions

  • Share learning and resources

  • Keep in touch!

Feedback from attendees was gratifyingly positive, including:

Really warm and friendly atmosphere. Excellent speakers this morning! Very thought-provoking round table / plenary. Feeling very inspired about Family Law and about this Network and future events and possible collaborations / work.

Sadly I could not attend in person. Even so, I feel I have ‘met’ and ‘heard from’ some key people.

Very informative and I enjoyed meeting other participants from a wide variety of backgrounds

As the new Director for the Centre, I’m very grateful to all who attended and contributed to the day in various ways. I too feel inspired, and I look forward to sharing with you the details of our next events, and seeing you there!

Rob Clucas