From: SANDERS, Matthew
[mailto:SANDERSMH@parliament.uk]
Sent: 08 August 2006 16:57
Subject: Children and Adoption Bill
Dear David,
Thank you for contacting
Sarah Teather MP regarding the Children and Adoption Bill. Sarah
has asked me to reply on her behalf.
The Liberal Democrats
have taken a strong and clear position on this Bill throughout
its consideration in the Commons. Our starting point is that the
child’s interests must be paramount.
We have supported stronger
enforcement for failure to comply with contact orders and also
the introduction of contact activities. We were pleased with the
addition of a requirement on risk assessments. This will help
both those who fear or who have suffered physical abuse and those
who feel wrongly accused of domestic violence, as accusations
will be investigated.
We were concerned about
what was not in the Bill as we feel that it should have included
a clear statutory statement that it will normally be in the child’s
best interests to sustain a relationship with both parents unless
there are good reasons to the contrary. However, we did not support
the Conservative’s proposal that there should be a legal
presumption on this issue. It is not possible to have two legal
presumptions without a conflict occurring. The presumption already
in law is that the child’s interests should be paramount.
The cross party Select
Committee on Constitutional Affairs on Family Justice (2004/2005),
after interviewing many experts in the field, came to this conclusion:
‘We understand the problems which would be caused by conflicting
legal presumptions. The compromise proposed by judges, to have
a strong guideline that the court should have regard to the importance
of a relationship between the children and a non-residential parent
has a great deal to recommend it. We recommend the insertion of
a statement into the welfare checklist indicating that the courts
should have regard to the importance of sustaining a relationship
between the children and a non-residential parent.’
We proposed an amendment
along these lines and were supported by the Conservatives but
this was not accepted by the Government.
We were also concerned
about the problems which grandparents and other members of the
extended family sometimes face. Our spokesperson, Annette Brooke
MP, made this very clear throughout the passage of the Bill, but
again the Government was not prepared to accept any amendments
to the Bill on this issue.
Annette raised a number
of other concerns during consideration of the Bill. She welcomed
the reforms which are at long last taking place in CAFCASS but
was concerned that not enough resources are being made available
for the new approach and for training. In addition she raised
issues about the availability of Family Court judges, the time
taken to get cases to court, and the need for more transparency
in the court process. The Liberal Democrats would also like to
see far more emphasis on mediation.
We introduced a new
idea to the discussion, a default contact arrangement. Annette
Brooke explained this proposal as follows:
‘It applies to
parents who have reached the end of the line, cannot reach agreement
and are waiting for a slot in court. If a parent has to wait a
long time before their case comes to the court, they may not be
welcomed by the child because there is a break in the relationship.
One could argue that the solution is to ensure that the case comes
to court more quickly—I wish that I believed that we would
achieve that in the immediate future Our proposal would not kick
in until it was clear that the situation was intractable and that
there were no safety issues.
We have not attempted
to provide a rigid arrangement but an interim arrangement while
people wait to go to court. Once it is in place, the parents may
agree to work things out between themselves.. The concept is important.
I take the matter seriously, as we need to tackle the gap which,
hon. Members will concur, may lead to one parent losing contact
with their child for life. An arrangement that is a little rigid
and lasts a few months may be a price worth paying to stay on
the path to keeping contact.’
I hope this has clarified
the Liberal Democrat position. Should you have any further concerns,
please do not hesitate to contact us again.
Best wishes,
Matthew
Matthew Sanders
Head of Office to Sarah Teather MP
Liberal Democrat Shadow Education Spokesperson
Tel: 020 7219 8147 Fax: 020 7219 0041
