Disclosure to Children and Young People
Objective:
To collate the existing processes for children and young people to request disclosure into one user friendly guide.
Members:
HH Karen Venables (Chair)
Vinice Cowell
Maud Davis
Barry Tilzey
Ms Justice Ruth Henke
Bernadette MacQueen
Terms of Reference:
Background:
The work stream came from a suggestion from Mrs Justice Knowles that children and young people wanted to know how to access documents from cases that had been about them.
The group will:
- Collate what already exists within regulations and statute into a form of guidance.
- look at what support is available to young people when receiving the disclosure, considering the potential traumatic effect of receiving the information with no support.
- liaise with the Family Justice Young People’s Board.
Timeframe:
The group became a formal work stream in January 2023. The group aims to publish flow charts of the process and an accompanying narrative before the summer 2025.
Outputs published by this working group
Guidance on Disclosure to Children and Young People (PDF).
The aim of this guidance is to provide useful information for children and young people seeking access to information held about them by the family courts and partner agencies.