Principles for Child-Centred Child Maintenance Policy

Position Statement

Shared Parenting Scotland believes that the best interests of the child are the paramount consideration in all decisions affecting children following parental separation.

In most families, children benefit from the continuing love, care and involvement of both parents. Shared parenting does not necessarily mean equal time although we believe that is not a controversial starting point; it means that both parents continue to play an active and responsible role in raising their children in ways that reflect the child’s needs and family circumstances.

We know that most children benefit when both parents contribute to their upbringing. That contribution is not measured solely in financial terms. Parenting includes time, care, emotional support, guidance, practical responsibility and financial provision. Public policy should recognise and value the full range of parental contributions – rather than reducing one parent’s role to financial support alone.

The UK’s child maintenance system should reflect these principles. Its purpose should be to support children’s welfare by encouraging both parents to remain engaged in their children’s lives and to share, as far as possible, the responsibilities of parenting after separation.

Child maintenance policy should never create unnecessary barriers to cooperation between parents, discourage shared parenting, or create incentives that undermine children’s relationships with either parent. Financial arrangements should complement, rather than conflict with, the wider objective of supporting children to benefit from the continuing involvement of their parents.

Shared Parenting Scotland has long supported a child maintenance system that is fair, transparent, proportionate and responsive to the realities of modern family life. It should recognise that parenting responsibilities are increasingly shared, that many children spend substantial time in two houses and that policy should reflect these changing patterns of care.

Our position is consistent with the principles of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) and the longstanding principle that children’s welfare is paramount. We believe that these principles require public policy to support arrangements that strengthen children’s relationships with both parents while recognising the responsibilities that each parent shares for their child’s upbringing – including financial support.

Accordingly, Shared Parenting Scotland believes that future reforms to child maintenance policy should be guided by the following principles:

• The welfare and best interests of the child must remain the overriding consideration.
• Child maintenance policy should support, and never unnecessarily undermine, the active involvement of both parents in their children’s lives.
• The contribution of each parent should be recognised in its broadest sense, including care, time, responsibility and financial support.
• Policy should encourage cooperation, shared parental responsibility and constructive co-parenting wherever possible.
• Maintenance arrangements should be transparent, equitable and proportionate, reflecting the realities of modern shared parenting.
• Public policy should be informed by evidence on children’s wellbeing and the benefits of sustained parental involvement following separation.
• Reform of the Child Maintenance Service should strengthen children’s outcomes by supporting shared parental responsibility rather than creating avoidable conflict or imbalance between parents.

Summary

Shared Parenting Scotland believes that child maintenance policy should do more than transfer money between households. It should support the conditions in which children can continue to benefit from the love, commitment and responsibility of both parents.

A modern child maintenance system should reinforce shared parental responsibility, promote cooperation and place children’s long-term welfare at the centre of every decision.

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