Children’s participation in the family justice system

It is vital for children to be involved in, or informed about, decisions about their lives. It impacts their well-being and long-term feelings about their contact with the family justice system. However, too often children tell us this wasn’t their experience.

In private law there is no universal mechanism by which children are heard. This plays out as just under half of children having no means of having a voice in their cases. In public law the situation is different: a guardian is appointed to represent children in every case. But research suggests some children still feel unseen and unheard. While much good work has been undertaken in recent years, there is still significant opportunity for improvement in a resource-stretched system that was built before active participation of children was recognised as positive for their welfare.

• We are shining a spotlight on children’s experiences of the family justice system.
• We are working in partnership with children and young people to ensure their voices are central in helping us decide what to focus on and how we progress with our work.
• We have produced evidence about the experiences of children in private law cases, and investigated how often we hear the voice of the child in private law proceedings. UK and international research studies from the last 20 years (2000–2020) that directly obtained children’s and young people’s thoughts on parental separation and/or their experience of court proceedings.
• In Separating Families: Experiences of Separation and Support, we looked at evidence from parents and their children about their experiences when the parents separated outside of court. It highlighted, again, that children and young people want to have their voices heard in the separation process.
• In The Care Files: Exploring the Experiences of Teenagers Entering the Care System, young people described their experiences of being in care and the limited time and space they were afforded to share their views and highlighted the limited information they were given.
• Outside of court we have heard from vulnerable young people with complex needs and circumstances who are living with deprivation of liberty (DoLs) orders reporting they did not even know they were on a DoLs order
• In collaboration with a group of expert academics and clinicians, we developed five principles of care for children with complex needs and circumstances – including those with a DoL order. In this work we highlight what is happening now in terms of the child’s participation in the decisions made about them and how this needs to shift towards an approach of agency and respect.
• Many of our Seeding Change stories include examples of children participating well within the family justice system.  We identify green shoots of inspiration that demonstrate how a child’s best interests can be at the heart of everyday practice and share these examples.
• We have shared and continue to share examples of new approaches in the family justice system that have child participation at their centre such as Pathfinder – a pilot for a problem-solving approach in the family courts.