Family
Mediation: Government parenting plans condemned by contact experts
By Gordon Carson
Children
Now - 25th January 2005
http://www.childrennow.co.uk/news/index.cfm?fuseaction=details&UID=c7461d45-167f-4d47-a28b-4af0308c36a1
Experts have
condemned the Government's parenting plans for use in contact disputes
as ineffective. The critics include one of the developers of the UK's
version of the acclaimed Florida Early Interventions project.
Oliver Cyriax,
of New Approaches to Contact, said the plans, unveiled last week as
part of the Government's response to its green paper on parental separation,
failed to address the most important issue in disputes - the amount
of contact time each parent gets with their children.
Under the proposals
for the UK's Early Interventions project, submitted to the Government
in October 2003, parents would have received guidance before a case
on how much contact there would be, with the aim that they wouldn't
go through a lengthy court battle if they knew the likely result.
Guidance would
be based on parenting plans setting out the norms of contact.
However, the
Government decided to go ahead instead with the Family Resolutions project,
being piloted in three areas.
The Government's
parenting plans consist of a booklet outlining eight typical cases,
but without highlighting contact times, and a questionnaire that covers
separating parents' responsibilities in all areas of a child's life.
Philip Moor
QC, chair of the Family Law Bar Association, also questioned the effectiveness
of the parenting plans.
"If they're
going to work it's vital that parents know what the courts are going
to do," he said.
Divorce lawyer
Vanessa Lloyd Platt told Children Now the parenting questionnaires would
be a "nightmare for practitioners".
"It's bad
enough trying to deal with the few issues parents are concerned about,"
she added. "If we're going to give them a range of other things
to fight about they will do exactly that."
The Department
for Education and Skills said the Early Interventions approach focused
on the rights of the parent but the Government wanted to retain a child-centred
approach.
Moor welcomed
the Government's plans to strengthen powers to enforce contact orders.
Measures, including community service for parents who breach orders,
will be outlined in a draft Bill to be introduced imminently.
