Contact with Children

The fundamental of good contact for children with the NRP (male or female ) is that the parents can work together and get on, the court process itself makes that impossible. Forced contact arrangements tend to end with the NRP having no contact after a few years out of court or why they keep returning to court to enforce the order.

Bearing this in mind the first step is to write a no inflammatory letter (or ask a solicitor to write in order to keep a healthy distance and unemotional ) saying contact is in the child's best interest, outlining a reasonable contact schedule and offering mediation as a way forward. Court should always be the last resort.

I agree with Fiona. Mediation is best if it can be made to work.

If this were to go to court, there will be a strong tendency to preserve the status quo based on the age of the child and the lack of a history of shared care for the child. 9 months in the current routine will normally be sufficient to establish it, unless there is any evidence that the child is suffering. Anecdotes of babysitters won't suffice.

In court, reasonable contact and any conditions placed around it will be determined by many factors, not the least of which will be logistics, and your partner's ability to provide an adequate roof over the child's head during any overnights.

Thank you for your help. It is a very frustrating and painful situation for my partner.

The parents were in mediation but she refused to carry on going when she wasn't getting her way. Not having been through the mediation process myself and not familiar with the way it works, would another go at mediation with a different mediator achieve a better result or is it just a case that if the one of the parties refuses to agree then no amount of mediation will work?

Many thanks again.

You can never tell. A different mediator on a different day might make the difference. However, if neither side will budge, ultimately only a court can force the issue.