Law School hosts roundtable on Family Justice Research. 

Posted on by Abbie Greenhalgh

A woman presenting with her arm raised

In June 2026, the Centre for Child and Family Justice Research hosted a roundtable on ‘Evidence Matters in Family Justice: Is Anyone Listening’. The event was organised by Professor Judith Harwin. Discussions with members of the judiciary, notably HHJ Carol Atkinson and Mr Justice Keehan, helped finalise the agenda to allow the participants with opportunities to debate, discuss, and conclude how family justice should move forward. Attendees included legal scholars, judges, and service leaders working at universities, councils, government departments, and within the judiciary. The attendance of CEOs of pioneering charities also further contributed to original perspectives during the event.

The event was split into 4 panels, each discussing a different topic in family justice. The panels featured presentations followed by in-depth discussion between the panel and audience members on the topic after the presentations. What resulted was insightful commentary and new perspectives being introduced into the room.

Panel 1 featured three presentations on Family, Drug and Alcohol Courts (FDACs); Babies Born into Care; and research on using evidence to disrupt the routes between care and custody, followed by a question-and-answer session. The presentations gave the attendees the key points of debate and what ensued was a thought-provoking discussion on the value of FDACs and discussion on what would be lost if FDACs no longer existed. Viewing the debate from this angle resulted in the broad consensus that much would be lost without FDACs. The presentations used case studies to reveal shocking revelations. For instance, it was highlighted that evidence of analysis of local protocols showed that although rates of custody are 25 times higher for girls who have been in care, only 6 out of 36 local protocols made specific mention to gender. This served as a reminder of how important research in this area is to uncover these gaps.

Panel 2 explored the value of lived experience through two presentations; one about the role of lived experience and research in kinship care, and the other on lived experience to system change for complex motherhood. Including lived experiences emphasised that family justice is more than just an academic theoretical field to study; lived experience shows research deals with real people, potentially the most important reason that researchers research what they do. However, an important point gathered from this panel is that there is always more lived experience to include in research. Overall, the panel’s key takeaway was that although many researchers value using lived experience, there is always more to learn about using lived experience in research and continuing to redistribute power through research.

Panel 3 explored accessing data through three presentations covering case level data and administrative data. These presentations balanced discussions on opening up data to researchers, whilst also adhering to principles of data confidentiality. The panel noted that data linkage could help accessing data, noting that Wales and countries in Scandinavia routinely link data.

Panel 4 featured one presentation named ‘Women’s centres and the early help ecosystem – joining the dots’. It discussed how services are disjointed and emphasised the value of working together. Most time was reserved for discussion on the sector’s research needs.

Overall, the roundtable on ‘Evidence Matters in Family Justice: Is Anyone Listening’ allowed participants from different organisations, with unique and insightful perspectives, to discuss the potential of family justice research.

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