Contact at all costs? Domestic violence and children's welfare [2014] CFLQ 439

Keywords: Domestic violence - welfare of the child - child contact - presumption of parental involvement - Practice Direction 12J - child arrangements orders

Despite the prevalence of domestic violence in private law Children Act proceedings courts rarely refuse applications for contact between children and non-resident parents. This article considers why this is the case by focusing on judicial and professional perceptions of domestic violence and of children's welfare on parental separation and how these perceptions inform judicial decision-making and professional practice. It also considers what the implications are of the presumption of parental involvement for child arrangements proceedings where allegations of domestic violence are made. In doing so this article draws on the author's small-scale qualitative study of the perceptions and practices of courts and professionals in contact proceedings where domestic violence is an issue. It was found that most professionals and judicial officers support the de facto presumption of contact and rarely question the parenting capacity of domestic violence perpetrators. Together with dominant images of 'safe family men' and 'implacably hostile mothers' this has a powerful effect on the way in which domestic violence is...

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