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Legislation
The key piece of domestic English and Welsh legislation addressing this topic is the Children Act 1989, as amended by the Children and Families Act 2014. As with all legislation, we recommend that you avoid legislation.gov.uk, and instead refer to a subscription database such a Lexis or Westlaw. This will ensure that you are working with an up-to-date version.
Television and radio documentaries
You may have access to a resource called Box of Broadcasts via your college or university. This is provided by the British Universities and Colleges Film and Video Council and gives on demand access to many television and radio programmes going back years, for educational purposes. Some programmes also include transcripts. There are many documentaries available. These include:
Dispatches: Sharing Mum and Dad (Channel 4, 2013)
- Presenter Tim Lovejoy, a divorced father of two, investigates the current situation in Britain surrounding shared parenting following divorce or separation. He speaks to a wide range of voices and explores the psychological effects of parental separation on children, hearing from teenagers about their personal experiences.
The Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service provides courts with help in determining what is in the best interests of a child and ascertaining the child’s wishes and feelings in the light of their age and understanding. There is specific information about their role in private law proceedings about children.
This report, funded by the Nuffield Foundation, looks at why parents and others apply to court about children matters, the different types of childcare arrangements that result, and how courts deal with difficult situations such as those involving domestic abuse or child safety concerns. Given the many myths and inaccuracies about court outcomes in children cases, this is a very useful source.
Profiles the types of cases that result in different outcomes (e.g. visiting contact, staying contact, indirect contact).
An excellent summary of the research evidence surrounding splitting a child’s time generously between two households.
This consultation explored the management of domestic abuse allegations and assessments of risks of harm in private law child arrangement order disputes.
Re H-N and Others (children) (domestic abuse: finding of fact hearings) [2021] EWCA Civ 448
The judgment by the President of the Family Division on these conjoined appeals examined the approach that the courts should adopt where allegations of domestic abuse are made in an application for a child arrangements order.
Practice Direction 12B Child Arrangements Programme
This practice direction outlines how courts should deal with applications for a child arrangements order. It covers mediation information and assessment meetings (MIAMS) and the importance of non-court resolution, allocation, safeguarding, hearings, timetable, and enforcement, among other things.
Practice Direction 12J Child Arrangements & Contact Order: Domestic Violence and Harm (2017)
This revised Practice Direction is designed to bolster the protection of adults and children in situations where there was domestic violence and harm.
Useful article about reconciling the welfare principle with the Human Rights Act 1998.
Yousef v Netherlands App. No. 33711/96
Important case on the requirements of Art 8 when in conflict with the welfare principle.
Mabon v Mabon and Others [2005] EWCA Civ 634
Dispute between the parents in which the children sought to instruct their own solicitor. Contains a useful discussion of the rules surrounding separate representation of children.