Should children be heard in court?

Politicians, campaigners and lawyers have long considered the extent to which children should be directly involved in Children Act proceedings.

Lord Justice Peter Jackson recently suggested there should be reform to the existing law, favouring a move towards judges and children meeting more regularly as part of the proceedings. On BBC Radio 4's Today programme he explained that discussions between a judge and the child must leave the child feeling better afterwards than they did before, suggesting that the child will ideally feel 'better for knowing who is making the decisions about their future'.