In a new documentary ‘Breaking the Silence: Kate’s Story’ airing on the 20th July 2025 on ITV, the ex-MP Kate Kniveton shares her struggle to protect her child from her abuser, the ex-MP Andrew Griffiths. Kate is calling for major reform of family courts in England and Wales but despite their support in opposition, campaigners say the Labour Government are now sitting on their hands.
Right to Equality is immensely grateful to our ambassador and the ex-MP for Burton, Kate Kniveton, for breaking her silence about her experiences of domestic abuse and the family court. Kate is an inspiration for ordinary victim-survivors who are legally prohibited from talking about their experiences of family court. Her exceptional case, where she has been able to be named publicly, offers the wider public and those in power a rare insight into the out-dated attitudes towards domestic and sexual abuse that can be found in our family courts. Kate was represented by Right to Equality’s co-director and barrister Dr Charlotte Proudman, who also features in the documentary.
During the piece, Kate and other victim-survivors share harrowing and sometimes life-threatening experiences of domestic abuse, including rape and strangulation. Despite these experiences, these perpetrators are considered to automatically further the welfare of their children. This reflects the legal presumption of parental involvement, added into law in 2014, which upholds a pro-contact culture and puts children and victims at risk.
Working alongside Kate and other campaigners, Right to Equality is calling on the Government to repeal the dangerous and outdated legal presumption of parental involvement. An urgent review of this presumption was recommended in the 2020 Harm Panel Report, but to date this review has not been released. We are extremely concerned that after a full year in office, the current Government has still not released this review, or indeed any meaningful new measures to reform family court proceedings.
This new documentary also powerfully illustrates the risks survivors face if they do not support contact with their abuser. Mothers can be deemed an ‘alienator’ or ‘hostile’ by family court professionals if they object to contact, sometimes leading to children being removed from their primary carer with devastating consequences. It is no wonder that family courts are chosen by abusers as a tool for post-separation abuse.
Right to Equality is calling for wholesale reform of our family courts. This includes:
- Repealing the legislative presumption of parental involvement, as outlined in our 2024 Ending the Presumption of Contact Report;
- Prohibiting the use of ‘parental alienation’ and similar pseudo-scientific terminology;
- Legislating against the use of unqualified or unregulated psychological ‘experts’;
- Preventing the removal of a child from their primary carer on the basis of repairing or improving the child’s relationship with the other parent.
- Reviewing cases where children were removed from protective parents on the basis of alleged ‘alienation’;
- Ensuring all family court professionals — including judges — receive ongoing, specialist training on the dynamics of domestic and sexual abuse.
In the Labour government’s first year in office we have seen multiple revelations relating to family courts. These include:
- Revelations that Sara Shariff’s father obtained custody of her through private family proceedings, despite a history of serious domestic abuse against multiple women;
- A government report raising concerns that child sex offenders are obtaining custody of vulnerable children via family court;
- The case of Kristoffer White, a convicted rapist who wrongly obtained unsupervised contact with his child;
- The Women’s Aid 19 more child homicide report;
- The National Audit Office finding that the governance, strategy and accountability of our family justice system is weak and needs urgent attention;
- Backbench MPs repeatedly raising concerns about family court cases from their constituencies.
Despite these scandals, so far the only ministerial response has been to continue measures already set in motion by their predecessors.
This government claims they will be radical in their approach to tackling violence against women and girls. When it comes to family court however, they appear to be maintaining the status quo. We call on them to ensure there is no further delay in delivering the change that family court survivors, and their children, so desperately need.
Statement released 20th July 2025
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