The psychological effects and emotional turmoil children are often subjected to during parental relationship breakdowns can often be untold. By the time cases where diminished responsibility, domestic violence, divorce, child custody and other potential parenting capacity issues are presented before a family court, a child’s welfare, behaviour, and health status can be significantly compromised.

As leading experts with many years’ real-world experiences in fields including but not limited to; paediatrics, psychology, psychiatry, neurology, and haematology, our experts provide invaluable insights into individual cases.

Working with children across all ages, backgrounds and timelines of events, it’s our expert witness’ remit to establish the physical and psychological effects a child has suffered.

Specialist Training and Experience Underline Experts’ Key Skills

Focusing on pivotal scenarios that typically have taken place during their formative years, our experts are trained to broach all areas with both understanding and sensitivity. To ensure that children and parents involved in the process feel comfortable and supported, while relevant information extracted can give all parties concerned the clinical verification sought.

It’s their expertise that instils confidence in family court settings that their opinion is informed and reliable. Courts accept experts’ learned opinions about a case, as opposed to just seeing it as evidence about what they have directly seen or heard.

Certain areas can only ever be properly understood by experts with specialist training and experience. For instance, in cases where a child has physically come to harm, nobody can say how it happened. Yet an expert can draw on their knowledge to establish what they believe in their professional opinion to have caused it. Similarly, these processes are applied to mental health issues surrounding parents.

One unifying fact is that cases involving any type of injuries to, or emotional suffering of a child, can be difficult and complex.

Recent Ministry of Justice Report Cast Fresh Light on Child Welfare Cases

Sadly, for many children who have suffered accounts of physical and psychological neglect and abuse within family situations, their experiences can continue even after their personal circumstance has been identified and acted upon.

An example of this cited by those directly affected is child contact arrangements once the appropriate authorities have intervened at the outset. Where perhaps approved interactions with parents have subjected children to further psychological harm.

This key area where children’s ordeals could perpetuate came under the wider spotlight in June 2020, when the Ministry of Justice’s expert panel published a report which had assessed the risk of harm to children and parents in private law children’s cases.

Entitled, the ‘Harm Panel’ report, the findings highlighted areas of concern which needed addressing. While providing a series of recommendations on the reformation of the family court response to domestic abuse in particular.

Our Experts Cover Core Areas of Psychology, Psychiatry and Paediatric Medicine

Family law is an expansive area which covers issues directly affecting children, including divorce, child custody and other family-related matters. All of which can lead to consequences, especially of a more psychologically damaging nature.

However, thanks to the clinical backgrounds of our panel of experts, once instructed your clients can access some of the best, and most widely regarded minds within these healthcare setting sub-sectors.

Crucial areas such as psychology, psychiatry, neurology, haematology, ophthalmology, genetics, radiology, and paediatric medicine, can provide convincing pieces of circumstantial evidence to judges and legal teams working on broad-ranging family law cases. So as to help them arrive at informed decisions which will benefit the child.

In terms of clarity, our expert witnesses can afford family courts a greater depth of understanding regarding an individual’s state of mind, and how their behaviours have been affected. Elsewhere, experts can either challenge or confirm accusations of neglect or abuse.

Foresight’s Experts Whose Experience Makes the Difference

Central to our experts’ processes and involvement, is the welfare and wellbeing of the child at the heart of a case. Most cases involving children are by their very nature, sensitive.

And with this in mind, our recruitment policy sees only suitably qualified, experienced, and acknowledged professionals invited to join our extensive panel, and thereafter in a position to collate and convey evidence during court proceedings. 

On hand to give compelling insights into cases, you can rely on Foresight to manage the complete process, from instruction of experts to case conclusions. To find out more about what we can do for you, please don’t hesitate to contact us.