A court presumption of child contact – five good reasons why not

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February 2006 The Children and Adoption Bill, which returns to the Commons in the coming weeks, aims to introduce a range of new measures where court-ordered child contact arrangements fail. These include: sending both parents on contact activities and ordering a parent to do unpaid community work or pay financial compensation where a contact order has been breached.

The Bill has been passed in the Lords and will be put before the House of Commons on the 2nd of March 2006.

The Lords debate focused on two key amendments, the introduction of a mandatory risk assessment to see whether child contact is safe and the introduction of a legal presumption that contact should take place with a non-resident parent (a 'presumption of contact'). The Lords accepted the first and rejected the second amendment. This paper outlines One Parent Families and Relate's position on both amendments. In addition, we are calling for adequate funding for the new contact activities, for family assistance orders and for the Children and Families Court Advisory Support Service (CAFCASS) to act as family welfare officers, a role which will be crucial in reducing the conflict between parents.

Feb 2006 contact briefing - 5 reasons (PDF 16KB)

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