Presumption in favour

Campaigning for change

This announcement comes after years of campaigning by domestic abuse organisations which has highlighted that the presumption has allowed perpetrators of domestic abuse to use the Family Court system to continue their abuse and exert control over their victims, often at the expense of the safety and wellbeing of the children involved.

The Children Act currently states that a court should presume that involvement of a parent in the life of a child, whether through direct or indirect contact, will further the child’s welfare so long as it can be done in a way that does not put the child at risk of suffering harm. This has led to instances of victims of domestic abuse being ordered by the Court to make their children available for contact with their abusive ex-partners, often on the basis that the abuse was not directed towards the children themselves and so the risks involved could be managed and were therefore outweighed by the presumption in favour of contact.

Focus on child wellbeing

The aim of the removal of the presumption in favour of contact is to make the law more focused on the safety, wellbeing and needs of children as opposed to the rights of parents. A key campaigner behind the reforms is Claire Throssel, whose two sons were killed by their father in October 2014 after the Family Courts had made the decision that he should have contact with them for five hours per week. Ms Throssel provided a quote that sums up the motivations behind the removal of the presumption, by saying

“There is this noise around parental rights but a deafening silence around children’s rights.”

It is unclear when the changes will be formally brought into law, but justice minister Sarah Sackman has said that this should happen “as soon as parliamentary time allows.”