- Bitter parents urged to seek mediation
- By Sarah Womack, Social Affairs Correspondent
- Telegraph (UK)
- 20/03/2004 Make a Comment
- Contributed by: admin ( 100 articles in 2004 )
Parents involved in acrimonious break-ups will be urged to attend free mediation sessions to decide how much access they should have to their children.
"Family resolution pilot schemes", based on an American model, will run in London, Brighton and Sunderland. If successful, they will be extended nationally.
Although parents will not be forced to go to mediation, judges will ask why they did not take the opportunity.
The Government also announced £3.5 million for negotiation, or "contact", services, 14 new supervised contact centres and revised paperwork to ensure that judges are aware of accusations or instances of domestic violence.
Yesterday's announcement follows lobbying by groups that say thousands of fathers suffer discrimination from a legal system which prevents them from seeing enough of their children after divorce or separation.
But Fathers 4 Justice, the controversial militant group whose members have staged protests on gantries and cranes, said the pilot scheme was "a sham of a proposal". Without legal back-up it would not work, the group said.
Matt O'Connor, its spokesman, said the scheme worked in Florida because contact orders were legally enforceable.
"This proposal does nothing to address that. We regard it as a cynical attempt to stop parents from going to court, particularly in London, because they are jammed to the gunwales."
He said that about 50 per cent of contact orders were broken by parents, leaving many fathers - the "vast majority" of those who sought the order - without access to their children.
Every year more than 15,000 children watch their parents fight over them in court. Expensive legal action drives men and women further apart.
The Department for Education and Skills said that couples would be offered mediation sessions within two weeks of seeing a solicitor, rather than the present 16 weeks.
A neutral figure would spell out why it was better for children if parents could make their own arrangements about access and a judge might later "ratify" the arrangements.
Margaret Hodge, the children's minister, said: "Battles in the courts about contact and residence following separation or divorce can be harmful to children.
"We want divorcing or separating parents to reach agreement between themselves about the future of their children.
"We believe that we can divert many families from lengthy, costly and damaging disputes that experience shows will leave many unhappy with the outcome."
Lord Filkin, the family justice minister, said: "Fewer than one in 10 contact disputes go to court. We want to ensure that even more parents splitting up are enabled to resolve parenting issues between themselves in ways that work."
Among the administrators of the scheme will be charities and the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service, which was severely criticised by the Commons constitutional affairs committee last year.
The committee found "serious failings" in the service, which was unable to cope with demand.
"Family resolution pilot schemes", based on an American model, will run in London, Brighton and Sunderland. If successful, they will be extended nationally.
Although parents will not be forced to go to mediation, judges will ask why they did not take the opportunity.
The Government also announced £3.5 million for negotiation, or "contact", services, 14 new supervised contact centres and revised paperwork to ensure that judges are aware of accusations or instances of domestic violence.
Yesterday's announcement follows lobbying by groups that say thousands of fathers suffer discrimination from a legal system which prevents them from seeing enough of their children after divorce or separation.
But Fathers 4 Justice, the controversial militant group whose members have staged protests on gantries and cranes, said the pilot scheme was "a sham of a proposal". Without legal back-up it would not work, the group said.
Matt O'Connor, its spokesman, said the scheme worked in Florida because contact orders were legally enforceable.
"This proposal does nothing to address that. We regard it as a cynical attempt to stop parents from going to court, particularly in London, because they are jammed to the gunwales."
He said that about 50 per cent of contact orders were broken by parents, leaving many fathers - the "vast majority" of those who sought the order - without access to their children.
Every year more than 15,000 children watch their parents fight over them in court. Expensive legal action drives men and women further apart.
The Department for Education and Skills said that couples would be offered mediation sessions within two weeks of seeing a solicitor, rather than the present 16 weeks.
A neutral figure would spell out why it was better for children if parents could make their own arrangements about access and a judge might later "ratify" the arrangements.
Margaret Hodge, the children's minister, said: "Battles in the courts about contact and residence following separation or divorce can be harmful to children.
"We want divorcing or separating parents to reach agreement between themselves about the future of their children.
"We believe that we can divert many families from lengthy, costly and damaging disputes that experience shows will leave many unhappy with the outcome."
Lord Filkin, the family justice minister, said: "Fewer than one in 10 contact disputes go to court. We want to ensure that even more parents splitting up are enabled to resolve parenting issues between themselves in ways that work."
Among the administrators of the scheme will be charities and the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service, which was severely criticised by the Commons constitutional affairs committee last year.
The committee found "serious failings" in the service, which was unable to cope with demand.
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