• About
    • Privacy Policy
  • GSW
  • Guide To Making A Subject Access Request
  • In Dad’s Shoes
    • An Overview
    • Invitation
    • Media
    • Photos
    • Press Release
    • Soft Launch
    • Speeches
    • Summary
  • Media Coverage
  • Parliamentary Debates
  • Voice of the Child Podcasts

Researching Reform

Researching Reform

Daily Archives: May 31, 2022

Family court head issues interim guidance on conflicts of interest among expert witnesses

31 Tuesday May 2022

Posted by Natasha in Researching Reform

≈ 5 Comments

The head of the family courts, Andrew McFarlane, has published a guide which looks at conflicts of interest among expert witnesses called to give evidence in family law cases.

The mini guide will make up part of a larger guide addressing the use of expert witnesses in cases where allegations of parental alienation are made. The full guide will be issued in 2023.

The interim guide sets out the need to ensure that any conflicts of interest are disclosed by the expert, and that the expert has an appropriate body of knowledge qualifying him or her to give evidence.

Unfortunately, the guidance relies solely on the honesty of the expert in making a declaration about his or her potential conflicts of interest in what McFarlane calls a “Statement of Truth.”

The guide does also warn the system against allowing expert witnesses and connected associates to provide services and interventions to the families in these cases. This is what the document says:

“Recommendations for interventions deliverable only by the instructed expert or their associates are inconsistent with [transparency]. It increases the risk of bias, can limit appropriate oversight of interventions and risks delays as it may create barriers to families accessing appropriate, timely support local to them. The court should be extremely cautious when asked to consider assessment and treatment packages offered by the same or linked providers.”

The guidance adds:

“The court should be mindful that any program of work proposed by an expert that raises a professional conflict is contrary to best practice and challenges the integrity of any updating expert opinion. Before a court orders any further work, which involves the appointed expert who has assessed within proceedings or someone with a related financial interest, the court should warn itself about endorsing this approach and scrutinize all available options.”

No formal definition of parental alienation exists, but it is sometimes described as a phenomenon in which one parent psychologically manipulates their child against the other parent, with a view to either encouraging the child to align with the alienating parent’s view, or to erase the targeted parent from the child’s life forever.

While most people agree that some parents going through a divorce or separation can and do try to influence their children’s views of the other parent, ongoing attempts to define the behaviour as a recognised mental health condition are considered to be controversial and unfounded by some experts.

A growing lack of confidence in Britain’s family court system and its ability to work out who is genuinely at fault (ie. who is the real victim in such cases) has also played a significant role in campaign groups pushing back against any efforts to formally recognise the phenomenon or place it in a category of its own in family cases.

You can access this pointless bit of guidance here.

Share this:

  • WhatsApp
  • Pocket
  • Telegram
  • Share on Tumblr
  • Email
  • Print

Like this:

Like Loading...

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 8,460 other subscribers

Contact Researching Reform

Huff Post Contributer

For Litigants in Person

Child Welfare Debates

May 2022
M T W T F S S
 1
2345678
9101112131415
16171819202122
23242526272829
3031  
« Apr   Jun »

Children In The Vine : Stories From The Family Justice System

Categories

  • Adoption
  • All Party Parliamentary Group on Family Law and The Court of Protection
  • Articles
  • Big Data
  • Bills
  • Case Study
  • child abuse
  • child abuse inquiry
  • child welfare
  • Children
  • Children In The Vine
  • Circumcision
  • Civil Partnerships
  • Consultation
  • Conversations With…
  • Corporal Punishment
  • CSA
  • CSE
  • Data Pack
  • Domestic Violence
  • Encyclopaedia on Family and The Law
  • event
  • Family Law
  • Family Law Cases
  • FGM
  • FOI
  • forced adoption
  • Foster Care
  • Fudge of the Week
  • Fultemian Project
  • Huffington Post
  • Human Rights
  • IGM
  • Inquiry
  • Interesting Things
  • Interview
  • Judge of the Week
  • Judges
  • judicial bias
  • Law to lust for
  • legal aid
  • LexisNexis Family Law
  • LIP Service
  • LIPs
  • Marriage
  • McKenzie Friends
  • MGM
  • News
  • Notes
  • petition
  • Picture of the Month
  • Podcast
  • Question It
  • Random Review
  • Real Live Interviews
  • Research
  • Researching Reform
  • social services
  • social work
  • Spotlight
  • Stats
  • Terrorism
  • The Buzz
  • The Times
  • Troubled Families Programme
  • Twitter Conversations
  • Update
  • Voice of the Child
  • Voice of the Child Podcast
  • Westminster Debate
  • Who's Who Cabinet Ministers
  • Your Story

Recommended

  • Blawg Review
  • BlogCatalog
  • DaddyNatal
  • DadsHouse
  • Divorce Survivor
  • Enough Abuse UK
  • Family Law Week
  • Family Lore
  • Flawbord
  • GeekLawyer's Blog
  • Head of Legal
  • Just for Kids Law
  • Kensington Mums
  • Law Diva
  • Legal Aid Barristers
  • Lib Dem Lords
  • Lords of The Blog
  • Overlawyered
  • PAIN
  • Paul Bernal's Blog
  • Public Law Guide
  • Pupillage Blog
  • Real Lawyers Have Blogs
  • Story of Mum
  • Sue Atkins, BBC Parenting Coach
  • The Barrister Blog
  • The Magistrate's Blog
  • The Not So Big Society
  • Tracey McMahon
  • UK Freedom of Information Blog
  • WardBlawg

Archives

  • Follow Following
    • Researching Reform
    • Join 814 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Researching Reform
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...
 

    %d bloggers like this: