| |
When will a court refuse contact?
|
|
| |
Contact factsheet. December 2007
The courts have refused to make Contact Orders in various circumstances where it has found that contact is not in the child's best interests. The following are examples only: - Where the children have suffered from sexual or physical abuse or where there is a risk of the children suffering significant harm if the contact takes place.
- Where the fundamental emotional need of the child to have contact with both parents is outweighed by the risk of harm he or she might suffer, taking into account his or her wishes and feelings if a Contact Order is made.
- Domestic violence (see below).
- If there has been a difficult past history and the issue of contact has caused serious stress to the child, the courts may reluctantly accept that contact is not in the child's best interests.
- Where the parent seeking contact consistently denigrates, undermines or is abusive to you.
This does not mean that if one of the above situations applies to you, the court will refuse contact; it depends on the judge and the individual circumstances.
If your child has suffered abuse
The court will not always deny contact, but can order that it is only supervised contact. The court will take into account all the circumstances. The following are examples only: - The nature and extent of the abuse and the effect of the abuse on the child.
- Whether there is alcohol or drug use (supervised contact may be ordered in this situation).
- Whether it would be damaging to your child to see the abusive parent.
- Whether there is more than one child at risk of abuse.
- How hostile the other parent is to you and whether this would harm your child or children.
If there has been violence against you
You are required to give details of any domestic violence on the court application form. It is now recognised that it is harmful for children to witness violence between adults, and usually harmful for them to be in an environment where violence is taking place. This includes seeing or hearing ill-treatment of someone else, which has affected the child. The courts now consider this when granting Residence or Contact Orders. Although domestic violence is not a bar to contact, it is a factor that the courts must take into account in cases where direct contact is being proposed.
The court can order a fact-finding hearing to look at all relevant evidence. This might involve social services, health visitors, the police and anyone else who might provide a report, to verify whether domestic violence has taken place. At this time, the courts will normally decide whether any interim contact (contact that takes place before a final order is made) should take place before the hearing, taking into consideration your and your child's safety. When considering whether interim contact should be allowed, the court should take into consideration: - the risk of harm to the child if contact is ordered or refused;
- how contact should take place - whether it should be supervised or not;
- whether a Non-Molestation Order should be made (that states the other parent cannot molest you); and
- at any stage, whether to make an order that the other parent does not assault, intimidate, harass or threaten you (this is called a Non-Molestation Order).
The court should only make a Contact Order if it is satisfied that your and your child's safety is guaranteed, and should explain how its findings on domestic violence has affected its ruling.
If you have been traumatised by sustained abuse from your former partner and you have obvious feelings of hostility for them, it may make it difficult for you to accept your child's contact with the other parent. The court will be reluctant to allow such hostility to get in the way of making a Contact Order if contact would otherwise be in the best interests of the child but will consider the case very seriously. It will look at all the circumstances and will usually order some degree of contact, unless doing so would create a serious risk of emotional or physical harm to the child.
The court can order that a parent who has implacable hostility (that is, your feelings cannot be changed) should have some form of counselling or therapy in order to make contact between the child and the other parent more acceptable.
Next page: What are contact centres?
|
...Back to previous page
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
