30 October 2008
The Children and Adoption Act 2006 provides new ways to help the courts find solutions in contact cases where there is conflict between the parents about whom a child should see and how often.
Courts will have more flexible powers to resolve conflicts between parents in contact cases when the Children and Adoption Act 2006 is implemented. The implementation of the remaining provisions of Part 1 of the Children and Adoption Act 2006 will be on 8 December 2008.
The government is committed to the principle that the well-being and interests of the child are of paramount importance. It is known that prolonged disputes over contact are damaging to children. The new powers will therefore allow the courts to deal with more flexibly with cases where parents cannot reach agreement or fail to comply with a contact order.
The new rules include:
- giving the court power to direct a party to the case to undertake a contact activity
- providing the court with the power to attach a contact activity condition to contact orders
- enabling the court to award financial compensation from one person to another for losses arising from failure to comply with the order
- enabling the court, upon application, to impose an unpaid work requirement on the person who breaches the contact order.
The new court rules and forms have been published on the Office of Public Sector Information (OPSI) website and are listed below (as of 18 November 2008 these links replaced the draft statutory instruments published on this page on 30 October 2008).
Statutory Instruments
- The Family Proceedings (Amendment) (No 2) Rules 2008 SI 2008 No 2861
- The Family Proceedings Courts (Children Act 1989) (Amendment) Rules 2008 SI 2008 No 2858
- The Magistrates' Courts (Enforcement of Children Act 1989 Contact Orders) Rules 2008 SI 2008 No. 2859