Removing Unnecessary Conflict Around Arrangements For Children
The President of the Family Division recently gave a speech to the Jersey International Family Law Conference, reflecting on his priorities for the next three years.
One of his key priorities is the resolution of disputes between parents with respect to the care arrangements made for their children post-separation. He repeats a powerful statement he made at the Resolution Conference in 2019:
“Cases of straight forward relationship disfunction, not involving abuse or a need for protection, should not need to come before a magistrate or judge for resolution. Indeed, because, for this group of cases, the issues concern matters of emotion and psychology, a court is most unlikely to be the best place to achieve any lasting resolution. The court, with its clunky legalistic approach will undoubtedly, in the end, produce a result which may then have to be imposed upon the parents, but, I would suggest, for this substantial group of cases, the court process is not one that either adds value to the welfare of the child or is in any way beneficial for the parents. In some cases, it may simply provide a pitch and a referee for them to play out further rounds in their adult contest.”
The task now is to take forward the recommendations of the Family Solutions Group, chaired by Helen Adam, but this requires not just judicial intervention, but more crucially a sea-change in how all family professionals and society as a whole approach divorce. We need urgently to de-stigmatise divorce, and make the process one which co-parents approach together, rather than working against each other.
Read: Supporting Families in Conflict: There is a better way. An Address by Sir Andrew McFarlane.
Author Name: Editor
Published content by The Divorce Surgery Editorial Team.
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