Lets change it for the kids

T,

Your concerns could be raised at a consultation stage

E

am in - just missed this thread

Elle wrote:
T,

Your concerns could be raised at a consultation stage

E

Hi Elle,

thanks for taking the trouble. It would just be a concern because if resolution tracks etc still had no powers many months could be wasted and during which children still would not have contact, or would have irregular contact with the estranged parent thereby causing a potentially bigger rift.

Family law courts do need an overhaul as they are reaching meltdown. From what I've seen since the enforcement of contact orders was brought in it has been positive and has been a step in the right direction.

T

I'd certainly support the first petition (it's what some of us have been campaigning for for years!), although at present the 'more suitable alternatives' simply are not available to cater for the inevitably high demand which would result in restricting access to the courts.

I can't support the second petition, however, because it completely ignores the phenomenon of parental alienation in which the child's expressed views are not his own but those of his parent. There are many who think that the Children Act goes too far already in attaching importance to a child's wishes and that the courts thereby (in Tony Coe's words) 'abdicate responsibility to children'. In a 2005 press release F4J said, 'This ideology promotes the worst part of the current system of family law... This way not only can the system blame the parents for not agreeing arrangements, they can blame the kids for choosing which parents they wanted to live with in the first place if it all goes wrong, which it inevitably will.'

An article in today's Times shows the dangers of giving too much credence to a child's expressed 'wishes and feelings': http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/famil ies/article6941434.ece

So little to say on this thread speaks volumes

Now I'm not a legal person (thank god!) but I do believe that changes need to be made.

I think that I could sign the first one (although I can't see where) but not the second one.

My kids are 6 and 3 and unless I am reading it wrong they would have quite a big say. I don't think that they are old enough to do this. My ex2b plays a very good political game with the kids, they have lots of fun with her, come to me extremely tired and basically I spend my time with the kids (I am nrp) trying to rest them and have some fun without completely tiring them out. I am also a bit stricter than her as I want them to know the difference between right and wrong whereas as she is so weak and will not tell them off at all. I think therefore that they would say they wanted to see her loads and me not at all really but I believe they would be doing this because she plays her games rather than trying to do the right thing in raising them which I believe is trying to get them ready for aduilthood

This is the link for the first:
http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/CourtCulture/

And this is for the second:
http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/ChildAutonomy/