David Hodson on International Family Law: What is safe parental involvement?

The government consultation of 14 June 2012 has proposed an amendment to the Children Act 1989 by adding some form of presumption or principle or starting point or addition to the welfare checklist. The intention would be to emphasise the importance of the involvement of both parents in the lives of the child. This intention is worthy. The execution seems pointless. In particular because of its desperate anxiety to avoid anything remotely close to the Australian experience of children law reform a few years ago the proposals seem unnecessarily anodyne. It must be doubted if they will have any impact or improvement in practice. If this is the case it must be highly regrettable.

In its headlines the government says that there is a...

Read the full article here.