New move to help separating couples prioritise their children

A new course and set of resources to help separating couples prioritise their children’s needs has been launched by Cafcass on behalf of the Ministry of Justice.

Cafcass is the organisation that protects the rights of children in family disputes and court proceedings.

It says that when couples separate, the risk of a deterioration in their child’s emotional wellbeing and mental health increases significantly if the separation involves a high level of conflict.

This can be exacerbated by the anxiety and uncertainty caused by lengthy family court proceedings. In some cases, the damage this causes to children can last for a long time.

Cafcass says its ‘Planning Together for Children’ combines e-learning, group work and online support for parents involved in family court proceedings. It replaces the Separated Parents Information Programme (SPIP).

Around 24,000 parents are referred to a SPIP course every year and their feedback has been used to develop this new set of resources.

Planning Together for Children encourages parents to consider how they can communicate and work together to agree parenting arrangements without the need for more court hearings and to understand how disagreements and arguments can worry their children and impact on their wellbeing and development. It was designed with input from children and families.

The new programme aims to reduce the time families spend in family court proceedings and to lower the number of families returning to court.

Planning Together for Children is for families in private law family court proceedings and can either be ordered by a court or referred by a Cafcass Family Court Adviser at any stage of proceedings as long as the right risk assessment is in place and there is no known risk of harm to any children involved.

Unlike SPIP, which was a one-off four-hour course, there are three stages to Planning Together for Children:

• a set of self-directed e-learning modules that focus on topics such as what happens if parents go to court, understanding and managing emotion, and looking at things from a child’s point of view;
• a group workshop where parents will be encouraged to discuss, think about and extend their learning from the e-learning modules, covering topics such as understanding the impact of conflict on children and communicating in positive ways with each other; and
• a supplementary online parenting plan – to help parents to make agreements about important parts of their co-parenting relationship and the arrangements for their children, where this is safe for the children and adults. Parents will be encouraged to share an understandable version of the plan with their child/ren.

The online parenting plan is available without the need for a referral on the Cafcass website. The interactive plan allows separating parents to agree arrangements for their children online and then to consider how they will discuss them with their children.

Cafcass Chief Executive, Jacky Tiotto, said: “Children often think that parental separation is their fault. They also often feel caught in the middle if there is conflict and sometimes they are encouraged to or feel that they have to take sides with one parent over another.

“Our best hope is that parents who take part in this programme are able to separate and make arrangements without the need for further court involvement and with a plan that serves their child’s very best interests. That is what all children deserve.”

Please contact us if you would like more information about the issues raised in this article or any aspect of family law.