The law on contact Flashcards
What will the court order if contact cannot be direct
A court will order direct contact, but if impossible or inappropriate can be conducted indirectly though calls, skype, letters, cards etc.
Contact can be ordered specifically or more generally
Harris v Harris: Father’s contact restricted to a card (including, if the father wished, a banknote) at Christmas and birthdays and one holiday postcard, all sent through the Plymouth City Council.
Contact can be supervised on unsupervised
- Cases of domestic violence or mental health issues, substance abuse or child are being introduced to someone they have forgotten, or do not know, should be referred to a supervised contact centre.
What is the statutory presumption in contact based
Strong presumption that the contact with absent parent will be int he child’s BI S 1(2A). Re O (CA) : It is almost always in the interests of the child that he should have contact with the other parent. The separation of parents involves a loss to the child, and it is desirable that that loss should so far as possible be made good by contact.
Contact promotes a sense of genetic indentity
DB v AB (CA): - Child brought up from birth by two women. Held that it is widely accepted that children do best if they are able to grow up knowing their identity and with knowledge of both their parents. It does not in any way detract from the fact that this particular child does have two mummies
Contact can be ordered against the wishes
Re W (CA) - Efforts to reunite a father with his reluctant seven-year-old son had been abandoned too easily. The child has a right to a relationship with his father even if he does not want it. The child’s welfare demands that efforts should be made to make it possible that it can be.
Older wishes will be listen to be the child
Re S: Court decided that 12-year-old boy refusing to see his father was a case of “alienation” by the mother. - Courts now pay more attention to older children’s objections to contact, but will not easily accept that the objections are well founded.
The courts will take what approach to implacably hostile parents
A robust approach: RE H (CA): It is important that there should not be … ‘a selfish parents’ charter’
Re W (CA)
Four-year-old boy thought that his stepfather was his real father. The mother and step-father thought that contact with the father would be destabilising and harmful and said that they would rather go to prison than obey a contact order. The CA said that the child had a right to know who his father was and that the mother could not be allowed to threaten the court. The trial judge had abdicated his responsibility by giving in to her.
What enforcement mechanisms do the courts have
- s11A-P into the CA which have the courts two new enforcement methods. The courts can impose community based orders for unpaid work and awards of financial compensation from one parent to another.
- The contempt of court remedies- fines and imprisonment- remain as sanctions of last resort.
However, may be ineffective in stubborn cases
What if the mother has honest fears
If mothers fears are genuine need not be rationale or proportionate and can be taken into account: Re H: He telephoned the mother, refusing to reveal his whereabouts, and told her that he was going to kill the children and commit suicide. A passer-by thought his behaviour suspicious and called the police who intervened in time to save the children. However, the mother believed for some time that her children were dead.
Will domestic violence create a bar to contact
no, Re H (CA)
What about a serious proven risk
A serious proven risk will offset the presumption. But start at a level playing field and apply WP and WC. Also look at the ability of the offender to recognise his conduct and show the need for change: Re L, Re V, Re H (CA)
A serious proven risk will justify the hosility
Re H (CA)
What about where a parent kills another
There is no prima facie barrier Re T - It is one factor – albeit a profoundly significant factor – in the difficult and delicate balancing exercise of discretion.
