Meetings and Events
2010 Meetings
Second open meeting of the Family Justice Council.
The FJC held its second open meeting on the 25 January 2010. It offered the opportunity for members of the public to see at first hand the Council at work. The meeting included a question-and-answer session. Download Minutes of the meeting held on the 25th January 2010
2009 Meetings
9th December 2009 - Debate on openness in the family courts
On the 9thDecember the Family Justice Council hosed a debate on openness in the family courts. A podcast will be available on the FJC website in due course.
Full Council Meeting - 19th October
A full Council meeting took place on 19 October. Issues included: media attendance in the family courts; Lord Laming’s recommendations and the government response; the proposed amendment of s41; Cafcass and the President’s interim guidance; Cafcass guidance on shared parenting; the Family Justice Board; and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. The full minutes can be found here.
October 2 - 4th 2009 - The Dartington Conference
The theme of this year’s conference was mental health, in recognition of the fact that a significant proportion of parents and children caught up in public and private on Cafcass delays.
The collected papers from the conference will be published by Jordan next year and copies of the book will be made available to all the Local FJCs, who may wish to use them to inform their own local events and conferences.For further information about the conferences and publications please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Thursday 9 July 2009- Manchester Conference on Domestic AbusePersecution, Protection, Prosecution & Punishment
6th July 2009 - Full Council meeting
Issues included: progress of the Bearing Good Witness pilots; legal aid funding, civil bids round for 2010 and concerns over the Children Panel membership; the implications of MoJ proposals regarding openness in the family courts; and an update from the President on Cafcass delays. The full minutes will be published on the FJC website under Meeting Summaries.
June 2009 - Forum on the Impact of Recent Developments in Domestic Abuse
The Diversity Sub-Committee recently hosted a forum at the House of Lords to consider what impact the changes to domestic violence legislation (chiefly the introduction of criminal sanctions for breach of injunctions) have had on BME and other community groups.
Around 50 representatives attended and considered topics such as criminal and civil proceedings, legal aid, openness in the family courts, false allegations and religious arbitration
tribunals. A full report of the event will be published shortly on the FJC website.
Full Council Meetings
Council meeting summaries can be found on the FJC Website
