Family Law

The Family Justice Council's Domestic Abuse Committee is requesting the assistance from practitioners with an important research project on fact-finding hearings in private law proceedings and the implementation of the President's Practice Direction: Residence and Contact Orders: Domestic Violence and Harm. It is the remit of the Domestic Abuse Committee to consider and advise the Family Justice Council on issues of domestic abuse arising within the family justice system. One of the Committee's current objectives is to determine whether the Practice Direction is operating in the way it was intended to do, whether any problems are being experienced in its implementation, and if so, what steps may be necessary to overcome such problems. Practitioners are being asked to complete an online survey to help Domestic Abuse Committee to answer these questions.

The survey is being conducted by two members of the Committee: Professor Rosemary Hunter from the University of Kent, and Adrienne Barnett, 1 Pump Court Chambers. Survey responses are entirely anonymous and confidential, and are held on a secure server accessible only to Professor Hunter. Ethical clearance has been granted by the University of Kent. Survey responses will be collated and written up into a report to the Family Justice Council, and will be made publicly available.

You can access the survey at https://survey.kent.ac.uk/ffh. It should take only 15-20 minutes to complete and will close on 30 November.

If you have any questions about the survey, please contact Professor Hunter at: R.C.Hunter@kent.ac.uk.