CHILDREN at the centre of legal battles should be represented in court by a publicly funded lawyer.
According to the Bailiff, Sir Philip Bailhache, the welfare of children involved in civil family proceedings should be the priority.
Following a recent court case in which a child representative was appointed because of allegations of sexual abuse, Sir Philip delivered a ruling to the Royal Court, saying it was important that the voice of children should be heard and their interests represented separately from those of their parents.
In the current system, the court can only make an order for the costs to be paid out of public funds when a legal aid certificate has been granted, which he thinks could hamper the procedure.
‘It seems wrong that the court’s power to order that the costs of the children’s representative be met out of public funds should be trammelled in any way at all,’ said Sir Philip.
