Family Law

The Ministry of Justice has published the latest Family Justice Research Bulletin, the seventh edition since the first bulletin launched in October 2012, following recommendations in the Family Justice Review (November 2011). The aim of the bulletin is to ensure research is better disseminated to professionals across the family justice system.

The bulletin covers research around three themes: private family law; public family law; and international evidence.

Research relating to private family law includes:

• Access to justice;
• Parental separation;
• Navigating the court process;
• Domestic abuse; and
• No-fault divorce.

Research relating to public family law includes:

• Early intervention and inequalities in child welfare intervention rates;
• Recurrent care proceedings and change in care demand over time;
• Special guardianship;
• Adoption;
• Placement options;
• Experts;
• Problem solving courts – Family Drug and Alcohol Court; and
• Post court support for recurrent mothers.

International coverage includes studies from Australia, Canada and Scotland. The bulletin also provides an update on ongoing research studies, and points readers towards useful resources and statistics.

Read the bulletin in full here.

• News

• Applications under Schedule 1 to the Children Act 1989
• Family Law Awards 2021

• Autistic individuals and the family justice system: research findings and good practice
• Use of research evidence in the Family Justice System