Join us for our next expert voices event on the 17th September from 13.00-14.00 where we will explore the value and practice of family judges writing to children involved in family court proceedings.
Judicial letters are one form of participation that children can have with court proceedings that involve them and their family. Writing to children at the centre of proceedings is a key way to enable them to feel seen and heard, and can support children to understand what the family court has decided in relation to their family and why. Yet whilst the benefit of judges communicating with children through writing to them has long been recognised, it hasn’t often been achieved. In February 2025, in order to better equip judges to do this, the President of the Family Division, the Rt Hon. Sir Andrew McFarlane, published a toolkit for family judges to support them in writing to children- a resource we will explore in this event.
We are delighted to be joined by experts: Jude Eyre, Nuffield Family Justice Observatory Associate Director (Strategy and Delivery), who will be providing an overview of the toolkit, and His Honour Judge Entwistle and Her Honour Judge Carole Burgher who will share their experience of this practice. The event will be chaired by our Head of Family Justice Practice, Sophie Carter, and will include a Q&A session.
