Judges urged to write to children in updated family court toolkit

Family judges have been encouraged to write to children involved in court proceedings in an updated toolkit published this week.

Before his retirement on Monday, the former president of the Family Division, Sir Andrew McFarlane, shared advice for family judges, suggesting they write to children and young people involved in family court cases to communicate the court’s decision more fully and explain the judges’ thinking. 

“The benefit of judges communicating with the child at the centre of proceedings has long been recognised, yet few of us have ever written to a child to explain our decision in their case,” Sir Andrew wrote in the updated guidance. “There is an understandable judicial reluctance in this regard, partly because of the realisation that the letter will be important and there is a fear of saying the ‘wrong thing’. In addition, judges may be worried that it will take a good deal of time to get the letter ‘right’, coupled with the well-known inertia that comes from staring at a blank page, without a template or previous experience to guide the writer.”

Thanking those involved in producing the “valuable resource”, Sir Andrew added: “I would particularly like to thank the young people who have contributed. Their endorsement of what is said here should give judges solid confidence that, if they follow these guidelines, they are likely to produce a message that will be of real and lasting value to the young person who has been the centre of their concern.

“My hope is that, like many things, once judges have used this toolkit and have written to children in a few cases, doing so will rapidly become the norm and no longer a task to be avoided. I would urge all judges to read this guide and to use it from now on in their cases. The publication of the toolkit has the potential to change the culture and to make the sending of a short letter from the judge the norm in all substantive cases; I earnestly hope that it does indeed do so.”

The toolkit includes a summary of the evidence on children’s experiences of proceedings, a discussion of the different purposes served by writing to children in different circumstances, key things to consider when writing to children, and examples of language, tone and format from previous letters. It was co-developed with input from children and young people, judges, researchers and academics, social workers, clinical psychologists, communication experts and others who work with children and the courts.

A judge who used the toolkit commented: “I think it’s excellent and the feeling is shared by the judicial colleagues I’ve spoken with. I used it last week and it gave me the confidence to actually write a letter. I don’t think I would have without the guide. 

“The children’s guardian was pleased with it and thought it would be very beneficial to the child concerned. The process of doing it also really focused my mind on the child and her being at the centre of my decision.”