THE FAMILY MEDIATION ROOMS

Urgent Applications To The Family Court.

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A Child Application can be issued at the Family Court straight away if your matter is considered urgent. Contact us first and we will give you some guidance / advice and support and can assist with the preparation of your application to the family court. Please also see our costs page for an ideal of our cost for urgent applications to court. 

Reasons to apply on an urgent basis:

The other parent has left and not provided their address.

Or has threatened to move out of the UK with the child/Children.

Or if you have concerns about your child/children’s safety and there is a risk of harm. This may be due to the other party drinking to excess, leaving the child alone or if there is a risk of, domestic abuse.

Contact us for a Free Consultation and we will explain how we can help you.

If you have an urgent reason to make an application to the family court contact us.

We will assess your reasons for applying, then prepare your application to the family court. We will then send this to you for your approval before you submit the application to the family court. We will then explain the process, potential outcomes and assist with any next stages of the process.
 

Another area of concern is Parental Alienation.

When parents separate, the way that a child experiences the breakdown will vary from individual to individual. Their feelings may be shown is different ways such as anger, withdrawal, truancy and emotional outbursts. Research is shows that a child’s reactions and feelings are often influenced by the adult behaviour to which they are exposed.

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Unfortunately some separating parents are unable to contain their hostility towards the other parent for whatever reason and this can impair their ability to co-parent responsibly. Harmful conflict can arise when parents are unable to put the needs of their child first. At the most extreme and intense end of the parenting spectrum, these parents may, as a consequence of their negative feelings, abuse their parental responsibility. They may misuse their parental position in a way that can cause grave emotional harm to their child, including alienating the other parent from the child’s life.

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Parental alienation, a form of psychological abuse against both the child and the rejected parent, is a concept; which is becoming more recognised and understood in the Family Courts. There is no single definition but it is now recognised by Cafcass (court appointed social workers) as arising ‘when a child’s hostility towards one parent is not justified and is the result of psychological manipulation by the other parent’. Typically it results in a parent being rejected by their child for no justifiable reason, having previously had a loving relationship. It is an extremely harmful behaviour that can have a life long impact on a family.
 

There is now specific guidance available to Cafcass officers who are responsible for reporting to the court on suspected parental alienation cases within family proceedings, called the Child Impact Assessment Framework (CIAF).

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The parent negatively influencing a child can sometimes know that they are deliberately seeking to alienate a child. An alienating parent with insight into the effect of their behaviour can act in certain ways to oust the other parent, often in an obsessive way. Other cases are more complex and, whilst the alienating parent may feel genuinely concerned for their child when in the care of the other parent, their concerns can be unfounded and experienced for reasons such as an undiagnosed personality disorder; which affects their judgment.

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Anecdotally, it is believed that restoring a direct relationship, often with the help of specialist support, as soon as possible can be one of the best ways to ensure a child can rebuild and maintain their relationships with both parents. As a last resort, the court is also able to ‘switch residence’ from one parent to another.

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Notwithstanding the above, it is important to distinguish between parental alienation and other reasons why a child may say that they do not wish to spend time with a parent.
 

These can include:

• post-separation rejection – a common and often temporary reaction to the changing family situation;

• justified rejection – for example where the child has been harmed by a parent or is frightened of them because of domestic abuse or other harmful parenting, such as neglect or substance misuse;

• attachment – age and gender specific reactions to resist time with the other parent including separation anxiety;

• affinity/alignment – where a child prefers spending time with one parent over the other. This can develop before/during/after separation;

• harmful conflict – where the parents actively disagree with each other and are unable to put the needs of the child first. This varies in intensity/impact.

The CIAF examines the underlying cause(s) for any rejection and identifies any risk to a child, including emotional harm, as a first step. The reasons for parental rejection by a child are often complex and require specialist help to identify and investigate before they can start to be resolved.
 

The new Cafcass guidance is a positive step to equip those responsible for making decisions about a child’s welfare with the right tools to unearth the reality of family dynamics. It is hoped this will enable a more robust investigation and the means to safeguard a child’s emotional wellbeing from the outset.”

This article by:

https://www.familylaw.co.uk/news_and_comment/analysis-parental-alienation-and-the-new-cafcass-assessment-framework

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Contact us by using the contact form for more information or telephone us.