Julia Shillingford appeared in the Family Court in the matter of C

Julia Shillingford appeared in the Family Court in the matter of C (A Child: Involvement in Jehovah’s Witness Religion), a case of particular importance and relevance to separated parents where they are of different faiths.

The court examined the extent to which a child should be involved the father’s Jehovah’s Witness faith, and the effect this was having or likely to have upon C. Acting for the mother, Julia was successful in persuading the court to restrict C’s involvement, due to the risk of C suffering ‘emotional damage’ from exposure to two radically different belief systems. Adopting the approach of HHJ Bellamy in Re N (A Child – Religion – Jehovah’s Witness) 2011 EWHC 26, the court restricted C’s involvement to attendance at the Kingdom Hall for two hours on a Sunday. The Judge did not permit: any one to one teaching, attendance at Assemblies, Conventions or Memorial Services. Particular attention was focussed on religious media in the form of bible stories and video clips which the father agreed not to expose C to, due to the perceived risk of harm.

The judgment can be found here.