Family law shift hailed as victory for children facing domestic abuse

Courts will no longer presume contact with both parents is best

- Hannah Al-Othman North of England Correspondent

The family courts will no longer work on the presumption that having contact with both parents is in the best interests of a child after a landmark change that domestic abuse campaigners have said "will save so many children's lives".

The move has been heralded as "groundbreaking" by family lawyers and campaigners who have long argued that the "pro-contact culture" in the family courts places the rights of abusive fathers over the safety and wellbeing of children.

Currently, under the Children Act 1989, courts are guided to work on the principle that children should have contact with both parents unless there is evidence that a parent could put the child at risk of harm.

The government confirmed yesterday that it would repeal the presumption of parental involvement from the act "when parliamentary time allows".

The decision comes after the government's own "harm panel" found that the presumption was not fit for purpose, and in 2020 recommended that an urgent review be conducted to address the issue.

A report for the Domestic Abuse Commissioner's office, published earlier this month, found in many cases parental contact - including unsupervised overnight contact - had been allowed, even in cases where domestic abuse was present.

The announcement means family court judges will no longer have to work from a starting point that parental involvement is in the child's best interest, and instead will be directed to assess and consider the evidence, and assess a child's wellbeing on a case-by-case basis.