Children are being put at risk by family courts presumption on access, say victims' campaigners
Family courts are putting children at risk by allowing abusive parents access to them in custody cases, say victims' watchdogs, as they demand new laws to prioritise child safety.
Claire Waxman, the victims' commissioner for London, Barnardo's and legal experts are calling for an end to the presumption that parents should have automatic access to their children.
They are backing an amendment to the Government’s domestic abuse bill this week that would reverse that presumption and bar a parent from contacting their children if there was evidence of abuse or they were judged to be a risk by the family court.
To support their claim, they have cited cases where children have been placed by judges in the family courts with parents who have been violent to them.
In one case, a judge rejected evidence that a father had physically abused his daughter after he denied doing so and forced her to see him again.
“The child was devastated and could not understand why the Judge didn’t believe her,” said Charlotte Proudman, a family law barrister.
“The Judge made findings that the mother had alienated the child from the father instead of acknowledging the harm of the physical abuse.
“The child was then forced by the court to see her father against her wishes, which caused serious mental health problems for the child in the longer-term.”
Ms Proudman cited another case where a child’s allegations of sexual abuse by one parent were dismissed as unreliable because the child was very young when the claims were made.
“Years later and the child is still repeating the allegations and requires intense therapeutic input. The court failed to fully assess the risk of abuse and as such left this child at risk of harm,” said Ms Proudman.
Ms Waxman said: “Survivors and children are being put at risk due to this pro-contact culture. “All too often we see cases where evidence of abuse by a parent is seen as insignificant or irrelevant to a child’s safety, and allegations of abuse towards a child are overlooked or often interpreted as a product of pressure from a parent.
“The Family Courts simply are not listening to the voices of children – the very people they are meant to be protecting.” Barnardo’s Chief Executive Javed Khan said: “Children are often the forgotten victims of domestic abuse.
The trauma they experience can last a lifetime, and unfortunately we know that the family court process can do further harm to their well-being.
“Based on our frontline experience of supporting children in families with domestic abuse, we are concerned that in some cases courts allow alleged perpetrators to have unsupervised contact.
“There is an urgent need to make the family court process safer for children and more responsive to their needs. We stand ready to work with the government and the courts system to achieve this.”
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has ordered a review of the presumption after a report found evidence of the negative impact of the “pro-contact” culture of family courts which placed children and abuse victims at risk of serious harm.
Justice Minister Alex Chalk has said: “We are determined to strike the right balance between making sure children are safe while ensuring they have the best possible family life.
“This is a complex area and any action we take following this review must be rooted in solid evidence. That is why it’s so important we take the time to look at this thoroughly.”
