Details of the people involved in interviews and focus groups

P1           A mother who had four hearings since March none in person with a mixture of telephone and video sometimes she was a little litigant in person and sometimes represented

P2           A mother who had a hearing delayed due to Covid-19

P3           A mother who had a 3-day hearing and was represented

P4           A father who had an in person private law hearing in March. He was represented by a client of his business on a pro bono basis after he had spent £40,000 in legal fees and had a period as a litigant in person. His child is also on a supervision order

P5           A mother of a 14-year-old daughter in care. Her hearing was a hybrid hearing and it went ahead without her in attendance. She had no legal representative. In hospital because of her mental health, she wished to participate and was not provided the facilities to do so. There are restrictions on phone and internet use.

P6           A mother who had an online hearing and in person hearing she was a litigant in person and had a McKenzie friend

P7           A mother who had two telephone court hearings

P8           A mother who had an online hearing and was legally represented

P9           A children’s advocate who works with children with special needs. She has also been in the system as a mother but came as an advocate to two autistic children in an online hearing.

P10         A mother who had a hearing on the phone because of problems with contact with her daughter in foster care. She was legally represented.

P11         A mother with autism had a Hybrid hearing, she was at court with her barrister and her intermediary (because she is autistic), the LA barrister was there and everyone else was online.  A final care order was made at the hearing.

P12         A mother involved in several hearings by phone and had legal representation. Her 3 children were made subject to Care Orders at a hearing held by phone, the youngest remaining at home and 2 older siblings in foster care. Decisions also made at previous telephone hearing for these siblings to be placed into separate placements.

P13         A mother with ADHD with children in care who were adopted. She had legal representation at 2 hearings

P14         A father who was legally represented in 7 remote hearings, the first one was telephone and the subsequent ones were skype.

P15         A father who was represented in 6 hybrid hearings since March the last in late July.

P16         A mother had two phone hearings regarding placement and contact with her children in care she was a litigant in person

P17         Husband of P16 who joined his wife in the focus group part way through and was a litigant in person alongside his wife

P18         Mother two court hearings with legal representation applying to change contact and discharge the care order on her child

P19         A mother whose children are placed with her sister-in-law, the court is considering a special guardianship order and contact. She had legal representation

P20         A mother involved in private law proceedings and legally represented has participated in a telephone hearing for directions. Initially the full trial was planned to take place over the telephone, but now this has been postponed for several months.

P21         A mother involved in several phone hearings. She had legal representation and could not attend court because of shielding due to her son’s respiratory illness.

The participants had hearings across the country covering the following regions

East England	1
North West	4
South East	7
South west	6
Wales	1
West Midlands	1
Yorkshire	1
Unknown	1