Children Act Applications and Social Media

When involved in Children Proceedings at Court it is very easy to think that you can publish or share whatever details you see fit online via social media platforms such as: Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, WhatsApp, Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube etc. thinking that: after all, they’re your children. It must be understood that this is not the case. Children Act Proceedings are private proceedings and as such are confidential with only the people directly involved in the proceedings being entitled to the information.

To protect the people involved, especially the children, no details of the proceedings and no details of the case can legally be shared without the permission of the Court.

Anyone who shares or makes public details of children act proceedings without the permission of the Court can be found in Contempt of Court as made clear in The Children Act 1989 and section 12 of the Administration of Justice Act 1960.

What are the possible consequences if you do publish images and make comments about an ongoing Children Act matter?

The recent case of M A-G V Hartley (contempt) [2021] EWHC 2473(FAM) makes clear what can happen should you choose to ignore the Orders of the Court.

In that case a father in private law Children Act proceedings repeatedly published information about the case on the internet and social media with his posts being visible to thousands of people online. He was ordered by the Court to remove the material but refused to do so and was in breach of the Court Order.

He was Ordered to attend Court in regards of this issue but chose to disregard these Court Orders as well.

As a result of his disregard of the authority of the Court he was found to be in Contempt of Court and given a Custodial Sentence of 10 months and ordered to pay costs of £22,423 (not to be enforced without leave of the Court) due to his conduct within the proceedings and the extra Court time required due to his behaviour.

When handing down the Judgement the Judge commented that:

“It must be made very clear by the Courts that to deliberately, and brazenly flout the law prohibiting publication of family proceedings involving children will result in substantial punishment”

The Law is clear, you are not able to publish anything in relation to Children Act Proceedings. Your children deserve to have privacy and the Court can and will act to protect this right.

If you choose to ignore the authority of the Court, you may face severe consequences as seen in the case above.

If you need legal help or advice with Private Law Children matters, please contact Kathy Gale or Rachael Revitt. They will be pleased to assist wherever possible and give an estimate as to the likely cost.