Archive for category: Domestic Abuse & Safeguarding

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Family court cases involving domestic abuse, coercive control or child safeguarding concerns require more than an isolated list of incidents.

Explore evidence-led guidance on Practice Direction 12J, post-separation abuse, fact-finding, protective orders, emotional harm and children’s welfare in England and Wales.

Learn how to explain patterns of behaviour, distinguish allegations from findings and connect evidence to risk and safe arrangements.

JSH Law offers defined-scope help with safeguarding chronologies, allegations schedules and hearing preparation.

Organised family court case papers, a navy folder and a gold pen on a wooden desk, illustrating Form C1A safeguarding and domestic abuse evidence preparation.

Form C1A Explained (2026): Domestic Abuse Allegations and Family Court

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How to complete the 2026 Form C1A, describe domestic abuse and coercive control, respond to allegations, protect confidential details and prepare evidence for family court.
JSH Law Resources and Guidance for Litigants in Person – practical family court information explained in plain English.© 2026 JSH Law Ltd. All rights reserved.

When the Towels Are “Wrong”: What Biderman’s Chart of Coercion Can Teach the Family Court

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Towels folded the “wrong” way can sound utterly trivial. But inside a wider system of coercion, small rules may tell us something about obedience, autonomy and the consequences of resistance. JSH Law examines Biderman’s Chart of Coercion, what it can help us understand about patterns of domestic abuse, and why it must never be mistaken for proof.
JSH Law Resources and Guidance for Litigants in Person – practical family court information explained in plain English.© 2026 JSH Law Ltd. All rights reserved.

When “Fairness” Becomes a Weapon: What Dr Emma Katz’s New Work Teaches Us About Coercive Control

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Coercive control can hide behind apparently reasonable ideas about fairness, responsibility and boundaries. Drawing on new work by Dr Emma Katz, JSH Law examines how unequal rules, false symmetry and victim resistance can be misunderstood in Family Court proceedings.
JSH Law Resources and Guidance for Litigants in Person – practical family court information explained in plain English.© 2026 JSH Law Ltd. All rights reserved.

Domestic Abuse Will No Longer Disappear Behind the Offence: What the New Court Flag Really Changes

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From 5 October 2026, sentencing courts must formally state and record when an offence involved domestic abuse. The reform could improve perpetrator identification, risk management and national data — but it is not a public register and does not capture every perpetrator. JSH Law examines what the new Judicial Finding of Domestic Abuse really changes and why the Family Court should pay attention.
Jessica Susan Hill beside the title “When Domestic Abuse Becomes Normal”, illustrating a JSH Law article about children’s wishes, domestic abuse, child arrangements and safeguarding.© 2026 Jessica Susan Hill / JSH Law. All rights reserved.

When Domestic Abuse Becomes Normal: Why a Child’s Wish for Contact Cannot Be Read in Isolation

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A child can love an abusive parent, miss them and want contact with them. That does not, by itself, establish that contact is emotionally safe. Re C [2026] EWCA Civ 1216 exposes the difficult safeguarding question of how courts should understand children’s wishes when domestic abuse has shaped their understanding of family life.
JSH Law Resources and Guidance for Litigants in Person – practical family court information explained in plain English.© 2026 JSH Law Ltd. All rights reserved.

Behaviour Is Not Need: Why Family Lawyers Need Cross-Disciplinary Literacy

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A child's behaviour may be the most visible part of a case without explaining what that child actually needs. Prompted by Adelle Banks' call for “professional curiosity without professional trespass”, JSH Law examines what family lawyers can learn from social work, Cafcass, youth justice and deprivation-of-liberty assessment frameworks.
JSH Law Resources and Guidance for Litigants in Person – practical family court information explained in plain English.© 2026 JSH Law Ltd. All rights reserved.

Seeing the Pattern: What the Major Coercive-Control Frameworks Can — and Cannot — Tell the Family Court

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There is no single test for coercive control. JSH Law compares the major frameworks used to understand patterns of abuse — from Evan Stark and Duluth to Emma Katz, DARA, Jane Monckton Smith, Robert Kaiser and Carisa Carlton — and asks what each can legitimately contribute to Family Court evidence.
Jessica Susan Hill beside a JSH Law commentary title examining Re C, domestic abuse obligations and Child Focused Courts in England and Wales.© 2026 JSH Law Ltd

“The Obligations Are Unchanged”: What Re C Really Says About Domestic Abuse in Child Focused Courts

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The Court of Appeal says domestic-abuse obligations remain unchanged under the new Child Focused Court model. That does not mean the Family Court is unreformed. It means faster procedure cannot dilute PD12J, safeguarding or procedural fairness.
Smartphone location and security data illustrating technology-facilitated abuse and digital evidence in Family Court proceedings.© 2026 JSH Law Ltd

Technology-Facilitated Abuse in the Family Court: GPS Tracking, Smart Devices & Digital Evidence

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Technology-facilitated domestic abuse can involve GPS tracking, smart devices, compromised accounts and digital surveillance. This practical JSH Law guide explains how litigants in person can preserve, organise and present digital evidence without losing the wider pattern of coercive control.
JSH Law Resources and Guidance for Litigants in Person – practical family court information explained in plain English.© 2026 JSH Law Ltd. All rights reserved.

Dame Esther Rantzen’s Legacy: Childline, Safeguarding and Why Children Must Be Heard

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Dame Esther Rantzen changed child safeguarding by creating somewhere children could speak when they felt unable to tell anyone else. Her legacy raises an important question for the Family Court: when we say a child has been heard, have we actually listened?