Divorce & Family Law - Child Contact with Absent Parents

Separated parents would, in an ideal world, agree that in spite of the breakdown of their relationship both would continue to play an active role in their child’s life. Unfortunately, this is not always the case.

In many cases the parents focus on the breakdown of the relationship and their own injured feelings, rather than on making the separation as painless as possible for the child. The issue of contact may, therefore, become a source of disagreement between the parent caring, day to day, for the child and the parent who has moved away. When it does, parents may find that if they cannot agree contact themselves, a solicitor or mediator may help them to do so. If this fails, the only option open to them may be to apply to the Court for a Contact Order.

In the vast majority of cases the Court will conclude that contact with the absent parent will be in the best interests of the child and make a Contact Order accordingly. If the parent with day to day care of the child fails to comply with a Contact Order the other parent’s remedy will be to make an application to the Court for a Penal Notice to be attached to the Order. If a Penal Notice is attached and the Order still ignored the parent who has failed to comply may be fined or committed to prison for contempt of court.

The Court is often reluctant to imprison or fine a child’s primary carer since this may have an adverse effect upon the child, as well as the parent whom it is designed to punish. The Government is therefore planning to implement recommendations extending the power of the Court to enforce Contact Orders. These new powers will include the right of the Court to require parties to attend courses or classes, to impose curfews or to require the primary carer to undertake compulsory community work.

These new remedies will hopefully be readily used by the Court as they specifically target the parent who is breaching the Order, while being unlikely to have a negative impact upon the child. If parents who are primary carers know that the Court will not hesitate to use these new powers, they will hopefully be deterred in the future from breaching Contact Orders in the first place.