Guidance concerning separated parents

Dear Mr Tyes
Thank you for your email dated 2 March asking for information about
guidance for schools for separated parents. I have been asked to reply.

I have attached a copy of the guidance 'Schools, Parents and Parental
Responsibility Guidance' for your information.
The involvement of fathers - whether or not they live with their children
- is important. Once fathers become involved, they tend to remain
involved. Early involvement of fathers generally leads to good
parent-child relationship in adolescence. Fathers' involvement in their
children's learning and education is associated with better educational
outcomes, better school attendance and behaviour, higher educational
expectations and better social and emotional outcomes for their children.

We are making progress in providing fathers with the support and
opportunities they need to fulfil their parenting role. In the Sure Start
Children's Centres Practice Guidance we strongly emphasised the importance
of Centres being responsive to supporting fathers in their role as a
parent. We also said this was essential for the welfare of children. But
we cannot do this alone. Fathers are not making full use of public
services available to them. There are many reasons for this - for example
young, minority ethnic and non-resident fathers are not being accustomed
to using the services. Therefore, more needs to be done to create a
pattern of support from all staff in public services, in particular those
in pre-school services, to engage more proactively with fathers. We want
to build up the expectation of fathers' involvement within public services
- from birth, through children's centres in the early years and in schools
- and within society more generally.

We have supported fathers in a number of ways. The Work and Families Act
2006 builds on the range of measures the Government has already introduced
to support working families: new paid paternity leave; extended maternity
leave and increased maternity pay; and a new right to request flexible
working for parents of children under 6 and disabled children.

We are also supporting the delivery of local information to parents
via Children's Information Services, Children's Centres & extended
schools. The information duty in the Childcare Act 2006 will require
local authorities to provide parents with comprehensive information on
childcare, local services and national organisations. The draft statutory
guidance asks local authorities to ensure that the information is provided
to fathers as well as mothers.

We recognise that there is still more to do. One of our current
priorities is to look at how effective services might be delivered and the
challenges that do or might arise in these services engaging both mothers
and fathers.

Secondly, the Government believes that children benefit from a continuing
relationship with both parents following divorce or separation, where it
is safe and in the child's best interests. The Children Act 1989 supports
this and, most importantly, it makes the welfare of the child concerned,
rather than the rights of the parents, its paramount consideration. While
most parents can and do resolve issues about contact and residence
following separation or divorce, the court becomes involved if either
parent applies for an order for residence or contact. The court has a
wide discretion to take account of all the facts and circumstances of each
individual case. Decisions are made after the judge has heard and
considered all the evidence provided by both parties and any other
witnesses, including experts. Both parties are entitled to have their
views heard and have the opportunity to respond to any evidence put before
the court. If arrangements under a court order do not work out, either
parent may, according to the circumstances, apply to the court for the
order to be varied, revoked, or enforced.

We do not see any need to change this law, but we do need to change the
way parents settle disputes. In particular, we would like to see a
reduction in the number of parents resorting to the courts, as this so
often results in poorer outcomes for the children and greater
dissatisfaction for the parents. Where cases do come before the court, we
are promoting extensive use of measures such as mediation and in-court
conciliation to divert such cases from a full court hearing. Linked to
this, we also want to provide a wider range of levers to ensure the proper
implementation of court orders.

The Government does not believe that an automatic 50:50 division of the
child's time between the two parents would be in the best interests of
most children. In many separated families, such arrangements would not
work in practical terms, owing to living arrangements or work
commitments. Enforcing this type of arrangement would not be what many
children want and could have a damaging impact on some of them. Children
are not a commodity to be apportioned equally after separation. The best
arrangements for them will depend on a variety of issues particular to
their circumstances: a one-size-fits-all formula will not work. The
assumption that both parents have equal status and value as parents is
enshrined in current law. The actual arrangements made by the courts
start from that position.
I hope this information is helpful.
Yours sincerely

Janet McNamara
Public Communications Unit
[1]www.dcsf.gov.uk

Your correspondence has been allocated the reference number 2009/0019077.
To correspond by email with the Department for Children, Schools and
Families please contact [2][DCSF request email].

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