Closed petition: Legally require judges to hear children aged 10+ in family court proceedings

Closed on 4 December 2025

Legally require judges to speak directly to children implicated in family court proceedings from the age of 10 years and up, within a controlled Court Environment. We believe that children should be able to speak directly to the person who is making decisions about their future.

We feel that such decisions could have a negative impact on children and the law needs to change.

In our view, the Family Justice System is out dated and broken and children are being dragged through long winded procedures unnecessarily. Currently, they talk to various different organisations who could misinterpret situations and send reports into the court that are inaccurate. We think this muddies the water for the children and parents involved and may cause more harm than good. For too long now these children have not been heard properly and we think they are being failed by this system. It is time to put the children first.