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Safe child contact
What’s the problem?
The Children and Adoption Bill 2005 is currently going through parliament, and contains provisions relating to contact with children after parental separation. We believe that all children have a right to enjoy regular contact with both parents and family members following separation, provided that it is safe, but we are concerned that this Bill, as it stands, is not adequate to ensure family courts will only order contact that is safe for children and their parents, either at the start of proceedings or before it is enforced.
Women’s Aid has been working nationally with a coalition of charities – including NSPCC, Barnardos Refuge, Respect, Greater London Domestic Violence Project, the Men’s Advice Line and Enquiries Service, Relate, and the National Council for One Parent Families - to lobby for amendments to the Bill, particularly to increase children’s safety at the beginning of family court procedures and at the enforcement stage.
What’s the solution?
We are pleased that in the Lords, two new clauses were introduced to this Bill – to require risk assessments to occur if there is grounds to be concerned about risk to a child, and to ensure ‘contact activities’ include referrals to perpetrator programmes, in cases of domestic violence.
However we think the Bill still needs strengthening because there is nothing to require courts to only order contact with non-resident parents if the contact will be safe for children and their parents.
As a minimum we therefore would still like to see:
- Routine pre-court checks to assess whether there may be safety concerns in all cases coming to family courts.
- For the risk assessment currently in the Bill to be defined more fully and to extend to the parents.
- Courts to be required to have regard to this risk assessment and to ensure contact is safe before it is ordered.
- A court to be required to ensure contact is safe before it is enforced.
What can you do?
- Arrange to meet your local MP in your area to raise these concerns and to call for stronger measures in the Bill and in guidelines.
- Write to your local MP asking for their support when the Bill gets to the Commons. If you cannot visit your local MP, please write to your MP using our model letter below, urging them to support amendments to the Bill that require safety to be addressed at the beginning of proceedings and at the enforcement stage.
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