If the residence and contact arrangements for your children are set out in a Child Arrangements Order and one parent breaches the terms, can you change a Child Arrangements Order?
What is a Child Arrangements Order?
Child Arrangements Orders are governed by Section 8 of the Children Act 1989, and is usually made if those who care or have responsibility of the child or children cannot agree either contact arrangements and/or where the children should live.
The Order has power to decide:
- Who/where a child should live with
- Who a child should have contact with
- Who and/or when a child can spend time with specified people
The court will take into account the welfare checklist in making these decisions.
Enforcement of a Child Arrangements Order
When your Order is drawn up, you need to make sure it contains a ‘warning notice’. This confirms the legal implications if one party breaches the Order and it must be included if you want the court to enforce the Order.
Unfortunately with child arrangement orders and contact orders, there are often times when one party may chose not to follow the order. This is particularly true in the case of ongoing coercive control by one parent to another and using children as a tool to do so is common. When this occurs the other parent can make an application to the court to enforce the order.
Once you make an initial application, the court will schedule an initial hearing. During this hearing the court will examine the reasons for non-compliance and breach of the order and to determinE whether CAFCASS (Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service ) will need to be involved.
The individual who has failed to comply with the Order has the opportunity to explain exactly why they broke the order. In many cases the reasons may be linked in some way to the parent’s belief that their actions protected their child’s welfare and best interests.
The court must be satisfied that one party has failed to comply with the terms of the Order. If the breach has only happened once, very occasionally or in a way that the court believes isn’t serious, the court may decide not to enforce the breach with punishment.
Depending on the circumstances and the court’s perceived seriousness of the breach/es, they have a range of options available to them:
- They could refer the parents to a Separated Parents Information Programme
- They could refer the parents to mediation so they can discuss how best to move forward
- They can vary the terms of the Order
- They can enforce the order and potentially impose community service on the parent who has breached.
- They can issue fines , particularly if the breach incurred financial losses for the other parent
- They can, if one parent has repeatedly breached the Order, consider a custodial sentence
Variation of a child arrangements order.
A family’s circumstances and children’s needs can change over time and as a result there may be a need to vary the final order to reflect and represent these changes, when that parties cannot agree to changes.
When no agreement can be reached between both parties for the changes to occur (or not occur) the applicant must be able to demonstrate their proposed changes are in their child’s best interests in terms of their health, welfare, and overall individual needs. The common reasons for wanting to change the terms of a Child Arrangements Order are, but are not exclusive:
- One parent has relocated which makes it difficult for them to follow the original conditions of the Order
- A medical condition or special educational need has altered a child’s requirements drastically
- The child wants more contract or less interaction with one parent
- One parent’s job is making it difficult to adhere to the terms of the initial Order
- One parent refuses to adhere to the terms set out in the initial Order
The process to vary a Child Arrangements Order is the same as the process for the initial application. You will need to complete a new Form C100. A C1A form may also be required to be completed by the applicant in respect of “Allegations of Harm”.
Here at Women’s McKenzie Friend we are experienced at supporting women navigating the family court for child arrangements and contact. We have expertise in supporting women who have or are experiencing domestic abuse and coercive controlling behaviour. Please get in touch for a free half hour phone call.
info@womensmckenziefriend.com