Hannah Summers

Looking forward to this!

Tomorrow evening @lawforchange.uk has a reception in Parliament hosted by Andy Slaughter MP, joined by AG Richard Hermer and Minister Sarah Sackman. We are almost at our 200 capacity but if any friends on here want to join us, let me know today (preferably by email).

Thanks Lucy!

A very hard earned award. Well done @hansummers.bsky.social and @louisetickle.bsky.social

huge congratulations @louisetickle.bsky.social and @hansummers.bsky.social winners of Society of Editors awards - National Campaign of the Year for their work on transparency in family courts

Thank you, Alice!

many thanks to Chris Barnes for his speedy work on grappling with what can be learnt from this Review into the systemic problems - how was Sara Sharif's safety overlooked?

We’re thrilled to see @hansummers.bsky.social and @louisetickle.bsky.social recognised with Campaign of the Year! 👏

Their work to ensure greater transparency in the family courts is a vital step towards accountability and justice for victim-survivors.

#MFA2025

Massive congratulations to @tbij.bsky.social's family court reporter @hansummers.bsky.social who, alongside @louisetickle.bsky.social, won Campaign of the Year at last night's Society of Editors Media Freedom Awards. Hugely well-deserved

Sian Norris, The Silicon Valley-style start-up targeting rape survivors at UK universities Hannah Summers and Louise Tickle, Psychologist’s ‘alarming’ views on domestic abuse throw spotlight on family court experts Lydia Morrish, Why are ‘deepfake porn’ tutorials still showing up in search engines? Cahal Milmo and Mark Wilding, Rape victims could have health data and sexual history trawled by police AI tool

✏️ BEST INVESTIGATION

Congratulations to the writers of our shortlisted pieces:
@sianushka.bsky.social @hansummers.bsky.social @louisetickle.bsky.social @lydmorrish.bsky.social
@cahalmilmo.bsky.social and Mark Wilding

.@tbij.bsky.social's brilliant family court reporter @hansummers.bsky.social's ongoing investigation into unregulated experts and parental alienation has made a spread in today's @dailymail.co.uk

Climate journalists in Europe and North America often write about the forest as a resource, or something that can be quantified

But what if the forest is your home or a part of you?

For our first Cop30 story, we spoke to 100 Indigenous people from the world’s tropical forests

The Justice Committee will question the President of the Family Division and the Domestic Abuse Commissioner for England and Wales during an evidence session in Parliament today (from 2.30pm) examining reform of the Family Court. tinyurl.com/bdztpks8

On Saturday, a woman of Punjabi heritage was raped in a racist attack in Walsall.

Last month, a Sikh woman was raped in a racist attack in Oldbury.

These horrifying attacks show how racism and misogyny feed each other — fuelled by the rise of fascism and hate.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Justice said: “We share the concerns about these unregulated ‘parental alienation’ experts and we are working with the family procedure rule committee to prevent them from giving evidence in the family courts.”

The calls for her cases to be reviewed came after details of a landmark ruling were published last week. A high court judge overturned the evidence of Gill in one case where a mother had her family 'torn apart' following the psychologist's advice to a judge.

Gill did not respond to @tbij.bsky.social's request for a comment, but has previously said she is the victim of a “witch hunt” and is being targeted by feminist campaigners who have a “biased view” about domestic abuse.

She said: “It is a national scandal that unregulated ‘experts’ have been given so much unchecked power, endangering survivors and their children and inflicting irreversible damage...it's on a par with the Post Office scandal and we must seek truth, justice and protection."

Claire Waxman has this weekend written to the government and the President of the Family division calling for an urgent review of all Gill's cases - as well as those of any other unregulated psychologists - where their evidence led to the removal of children.

She said: 'I’ve seen cases where unregulated ‘parental alienation’ experts have torn children from their parents who were victims of abuse, and even led to children being handed back to the person who harmed them, because those experts dismissed disclosure of abuse as lies.”

The removal of children on the advice of unregulated experts instructed by the family courts is a “national scandal”, the incoming victims' commissioner @ldnvictimscomm.bsky.social
has told @tbij.bsky.social. She is calling for an urgent review of all Melanie Gill's cases. 🧵 tinyurl.com/bp9smemn

You can read Judd's judgment here: tinyurl.com/mhs3krwv

Gill was paid £10K for her report. She has previously said she has given evidence in up to 200 cases. And we have verified that at least a dozen children have been removed following her advice. She did not respond to our invitation to comment on the details in the article.

Mrs Justice Judd said "any findings of alienation purported to be made by Ms Gill” could not be relied on. She also disregarded the judgment of the district judge. The ruling could have potential ramifications for other cases where Gill has made assessments.

Sarah's barrister told the hearing in July that Gill's evidence was simply accepted by the district judge instead of him conducting his own investigation into complaints raised by the children against their father and which he denied.

The mother, Sarah*, told us she feels like she has been treated like a criminal. She said: “The damage caused by Melanie Gill and the catastrophic impact of her recommendations adopted by the court will stay with me and my girls for a lifetime.”

But at hearing in July a high court judge said Gill's evidence and the judge's findings that followed should be "set aside" because they were based on a "mistaken foundation".
@tbij.bsky.social is now able to report on the case after securing a transparency order.

Gill also advised the mother should have no unsupervised contact with her children until she had undergone a specialist type of therapy – ‘schema therapy’, which is not available on the NHS. Her recommendations were accepted by a district judge in a September 2020 judgment.

Gill told the court the mother was a “narcissist” who had alienated her kids from their father and recommended they should be moved to live with him. This happened after a remote hearing held at short notice and lasting less than an hour.

NEW: A mother has won a landmark legal bid to overturn the evidence of a psychologist which led to her kids being removed. For the last 5yrs she has only seen them twice a month under strict supervision based on Melanie Gill's advice to a family judge. 🧵 tinyurl.com/4z2cm2m4