The question arose as to whether a Cafcass officer acting as a children and family reporter (CFR) in private law proceedings required the permission of the court before referring to the local authority’s social services department for further investigation allegations by the child’s mother about the child’s father made by her to the CFR in the course of the CFR’s inquiries but before the CFR had prepared her report.
Held: The information given to the CFR by the child’s mother was ‘information relating to the proceedings’ within the meaning of section 12.
Judges:
Thorpe LJ, Wall J
Citations:
[2002] EWCA Civ 1199, [2002] 3 FCR 208, (2002) 99(39) LSG 37, [2002] 2 FLR 893, [2003] Fam Law 96, [2003] Fam 26, [2002] 3 WLR 1669, [2002] 4 All ER 401
Links:
Statutes:
Administration of Justice Act 1960 12(1)(a)
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Doctor A and Others v Ward and Another FD 8-Jan-2010
Parents wished to publicise the way care proceedings had been handled, naming the doctors, social workers and experts some of whom had been criticised. Their names had been shown as initials so far, and interim contra mundum orders had been made . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Children
Updated: 17 July 2022; Ref: scu.270474