Children ‘mistrust media’, study by children’s commissioner reveals

Children in family proceedings ‘do not trust newspapers’ and will be deterred from disclosing details of their abuse if there are journalists present, research by children’s commissioner for England Sir Al Aynsley-Green has shown.

Solicitors said the interim results of Aynsley-Green’s study, which has so far involved in-depth interviews with 35 children, casts doubt on the government’s policy of opening up media access to the courts.

The study found that almost all children interviewed were opposed to the media being allowed into children cases.

Despite being told that the law barred publication of information that would identify them, it found ‘most will remain unconvinced of the power of the law, and other adults – lawyers and judges – to protect their ­privacy.’

The report said that children will be unable or unwilling to talk about abuse by a parent once they have been told that a reporter may be in court.

Chris Goulden, co-chairman of Resolution’s national children’s committee, said he was already aware of some incidents where children’s identities had become known.

He said: ‘This one piece of research does not seem to me to be grounds for putting the whole thing into reverse. But it does suggest that we should proceed with immense caution.

‘We must not go down the route of the second stage [of the proposals] without more thorough research.’

Christina Blacklaws, Law Society council member for child law, said the media would only report on the ‘gritty and the salacious’ and would not explain the court process to the public.

The media has been allowed to report on the process of ­family cases since last April, but provisions in the Children, Schools and Families bill currently before Parliament will extend this to allow reporting of the details of individual cases.

A Ministry of Justice spokesman said the bill contained safeguards and there had been no negative impact so far.