Listening to children research

A Sunday Herald article has highlighted certain findings from a research study on children and young people involved in court cases about contact.

It suggests that 8% of children in such cases are compelled to visit or stay with a parent who is alleged to have committed domestic abuse.

Families Need Fathers Scotland agrees that improvements can be made in the way contact and residence cases are handled in the family courts and that children (and parents) need to be protected from abuse.

But the reporting about this study suggests that many children are being forced to see abusive parents and that fathers are more likely to be listened to than mothers. 

Most fathers who contact Families Need Fathers Scotland would disagree strongly that conclusion about bias against mothers.

There are occasions when the stated views of children about one parent – either father or mother – need to be considered carefully and weighed against other information, and we would suggest that such cases require particular expertise. 

If a child who has previously have a close relationship with both parents appears to be rejecting one parent without clear reasons then questions need to be asked.

Talking to children and taking their views into account is important but children shouldn’t be the only decision makers in contact disputes.  Children should not be put in the position of choosing between parents in court, no more than they should decide whether or not to go to school.

As well as finding out the views of children in such cases, the Sheriff also has to consider whether allegations of domestic violence or child abuse can be substantiated.

As Lady Hale commented in a recent Supreme Court judgement: “No child should be brought up to believe that she has been abused if in fact she has not, any more than any child should be persuaded by the adult world that she has not been abused when in fact she has.”

Sheriffs therefore have the difficult job of sorting out fact from fiction, alongside trying to consider the views of children.

0 likes