company; a couple separated from their three children because of a claim – but not a shred of evidence – of sexual abuse; and a mother who was identified, even before she gave birth, as a likely sufferer of the extremely controversial "Munchausen's Syndrome by Proxy", in which parents pretend their children are ill as a way of gaining attention. Most famously, in 1991, nine children were taken away from their families in the Orkney Islands – in some cases being told their mother was dead – because of false allegations about a satanic sex ring.

What do judges think about letting journalists in?
Many favour it, if only to correct the inaccurate reporting that comes from keeping them out. "So much of what is said comes from interested and disgruntled parties not reporting the matter objectively," says Sir Mark Potter, president of the Family Division of the High Court. Camilla Cavendish, the journalist who led the Times's campaign, admitted after her first day in court that the experience was "very different" to the impression she had got from talking to aggrieved people on the phone. "In court there are more shades of grey. You learn things the parties did not want to tell you," she wrote, after finally being able to attend a hearing in a child protection case she had been following for some time.

Does everyone support the change?
Far from it. Lawyers argue that closed hearings are more conducive to compromise than the adversarial style of public courts. There are also fears that social workers will refuse to testify through fear of public exposure, and that the wishes of children are being overlooked: a survey of 200 children in family court cases found that a vast majority did not want reporters present. And even the journalists aren't happy. Although they are now allowed in to court, the cases are still technically heard in private. That means the press is still bound by the Administration of Justice Act, which makes it an offence to publish anything other than what the judge expressly allows them to report. Ministers say they intend to modify this part of the law "as soon as parliamentary time allows".