Around 4,300 cases a week are heard in the family courts in England and Wales and the number of applications for children to be taken into council care has is around 13,000 each year. And yet remarkably little is known by most people about what goes on in family courts.

In this latest episode, our guest is Louise Tickle, a multi-award winning freelance journalist who has reported extensively on domestic abuse, child protection and the family courts - and how the lack of scrutiny and transparency in these courts means many women and families are being tragically failed by the justice system.

Last year, Louise’s investigations for Channel 4’s Dispatches programme exposed cases of families traumatised by their encounters with family courts and judges hiding poor decisions behind secrecy rules.

Earlier this year, Louise’s reporting for BBC Panorama shared the troubling stories of families who felt failed by local authorities and social workers when their children were taken into care.

And her recent podcasts for Tortoise Media have exposed how a former government minister abused the secrecy of the family courts in an attempt to hide the truth that he had abused and raped his wife.

In our conversation, Louise explains how she developed a journalistic interest in these areas, the pros and cons of conducting her investigations as a freelance, how she’s grown in confidence in challenging reporting restrictions and why she believes journalists have a unique and critical role in holding courts to account.

J-Lab is a podcast by the Civic Journalism Lab at Newcastle University.