The President of the Family Division, Andrew McFarlane, has been admitted to hospital, according to a judge overseeing a case.

In February, McFarlane confirmed that he was on a waiting list for open heart surgery,  in a statement on the Association of Lawyers for Children’s website. The President was due to undergo surgery in the Spring, but it is likely that the procedure was delayed due to the Coronavirus pandemic, as hospitals were largely closed to patients who were not infected with the virus.

Mr Justice Williams passed the remark in a jugdment for a case which was intended to be heard by McFarlane. Williams said the case had been reallocated to him as a result of the President being admitted to hospital.

Williams’ judgment, which has been published on the free legal database BAILII, explains that he had to attend hearings for the case on 9th and 10th July, which could suggest that the President was already in hospital, or recovering at home.

If the President has undergone open heart surgery, he is unlikely to return to work for several months while he recovers from the procedure.

In his absence, he has appointed Senior Family Division Liaison Judge, Mrs Justice Theis, and Justices Keehan and Cobb to assist her. Justice Hayden has been asked to act as Vice President of the Court of Protection, and Justice Mostyn has been appointed as head of the Financial Remedy Court.

Many thanks to Peter Davies for alerting us to the President’s statement.

The latest child welfare items that should be right on your radar:

• Family courts carry out ‘state sanctioned abuse’ of domestic abuse survivors by letting perpetrators see children, commissioner warns
• Review claims consultation on children’s social care exemptions is not valid
• Court removes a 22 day old baby from mother in prison (Philippines)

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The latest child welfare items that should be right on your radar:

• Call to scrap fines for children not returning to school next term
• Inspectors call for easing of ‘severe regime restrictions’ in women’s prisons as inmates’ physical and mental health deteriorating
• Activists from Extinction Rebellion symbolically lay out children’s shoes to highlight climate-related deaths

We’ve been a little busy at Researching Reform, both on and off the child protection grid, so we’re sharing the latest developments with you in this snapshot post, which we hope you’ll find useful.

• Final Report: Assessing risk of harm to children and parents in private law children cases
• Version 5 – The Remote Access Family Court (Managing online hearings for family cases)
• Children and COVID-19: Immunity, symptoms and scale – what we know so far (podcast)

The latest child welfare items that should be right on your radar:

• Coronavirus: ‘More support needed to keep babies out of care’
• Public consultation on children’s access to advocates confirmed by government 
• Ofsted slams Worcester children’s home after staff ‘poorly managed’ girl who undressed in public area

The latest child welfare items that should be right on your radar:

• George Carey: Former archbishop suspended over abuse inquiry
• MPs approve abortion guidelines for Northern Ireland
• Child sexual abuse in sports – Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (report)

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The latest child welfare items that should be right on your radar.

• MPs vote against scrapping controversial relaxation of children in care duties by 260 votes to 123 (Hansard transcript of debate)
• Domestic Abuse Bill has its sixth sitting (Parliament website page for Bill)
• Single parents can form ‘support bubble’ with another household (UK COVID-19 briefing)

The latest child welfare items that should be right on your radar:

• Lord Ahmed child abuse trial delayed until January
• Virtual child exploitation surgery being held by Wiltshire Police
• Police receive hundreds of calls and mails after new Madeleine McCann appeal 

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The news items that should be right on your radar:

• ‘Baby P’ council is in the dock again: Judge blasts Haringey social workers who exposed boys to known paedophile
• Contact during lockdown: How are children and their birth families keeping in touch? (Research)
• The effects of digital contact on children’s well-being (Research)

Many thanks to Dana for sharing the first news item with us.