In the vast majority of Divorce cases the Court makes no Order in relation to the children. The Court works on the principle of Parental Responsibilities not Parental Rights. It is perceived that the parents have an obligation to try and work out the best arrangements for the children without the intervention of any outside agency or Court. The arrangements of the children’s future are outlined on a form called The Statement of Arrangements for Children which is lodged at the time of a Divorce Petition. Ideally parents will agree on those arrangements and the Statement will be presented as a joint document. At the Hearing of the Decree Nisi of Divorce, at which no one actually has to attend, the Judge will look at the Statement of Arrangements and hopefully declare that the arrangements for the children are the best that can be devised in the circumstances. Both parents then continue to have Parental Responsibility are entitled to be involved in the main decision making processes for the children’s futures and every family is different.
If there are major disagreements about the care arrangements for the children either parent can apply to the Court for a Residence Order to decide with whom the children should live, a Contact Order to decide how much time and with what arrangements the children should spend with the non-resident parent. There are also, in cases of particular difficulty Orders of Prohibited Steps and Specific Issue.
Where a matter in relation to the children is referred to the Judge nearly always the Judge will appoint a CAFCASS Officer to make a report on the situation on the ground. The CAFCASS Officer really is the eyes and ears of the Court and his or her obligations are to the Judge. The children’s welfare is, however, the primary consideration. Unfortunately, at this time CAFCASS Officers reports are often taking 16 weeks to prepare which can be an awfully long time if you are not seeing your child in the interim. Going to Relate or Mediation can often help build bridges of communication and enable contact to take place without having to rely on the Court system or even wait for the Court system.
There is an accepted principle that the children should have the best possible relationship with each parent. There is, therefore, a great presumption that children should see the non-resident parent regularly. A Court Order defining contact can be very specific but rarely actually fits with a growing child’s needs or best interests. Where a Court Order has had to be very specifically defined it can be varied in the future, either by agreement between the parties, which should be written down or by referring the matter back to Court.
Where there is any suggestion of abuse then Social Services and/or the Police should be called in. Local contact centres can be used to supervise contact where there have been sever concerns about the protection of the child or sometimes where there has been a long period of time since a child saw its parent.
Grandparents have a role to play in the average child’s life also and if necessary they to can apply to the Courts for Orders of Contact or even Resident.
We are very fortunate in the Ripon and Harrogate area in having an established Mediation Service which has a lot of experience of building bridges between parents so that they can communicate and make arrangements that are the best for their children in the future.
Keep Talking is at 13 Dragon Parade, Harrogate HG1 5BZ Tel: 525156
If these or any other issues relating to family breakdown are problems for you please contact us on 01423 858582 or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
