New Law may boost rights for fathers

by Claire Dyer - Legal Correspondent

Divorced and separated mothers who refuse to allow their former partners to see their children could face community service orders and fines under proposals expected to go to the Lord Chancellor early next year.

Estranged parents who are locked in conflict over their children may also have to attend parenting classes and anger management courses to try to work out ways of co-operating over child-contact.

The recommendations are expected to come from the Children Act sub-committee of the Lord Chancellor's family law advisory committee, an official body headed by a high court judge which was set up to monitor the workings of the Children Act.

Ten years after the act came into force, child contact disputes are as intractable as ever. Although courts pay lip service to the principle that children have the right to a continuing relationship with both parents, divorced fathers often lose tough with their offspring because the courts have failed to find effective ways of bringing to book mothers who flout contact orders.

Fathers who find their efforts to maintain a relationship with their children thwarted are growing more militant and have taken to picketing the homes of family judges at weekends.

Last month the Equal Parenting Council , a pressure group demanding equal rights for both parents, demonstrated at the world congress of family law in Bath.

Under the present laws, mothers who defy court orders can be jailed for contempt but the power is rarely used because judges are loath to deprive small children of their mothers.

The Children Act sub-committee, chaired by the high court family division judge, Sir Nicholas Wall, has been investigating how courts around the world deal with mothers who flout ordrs for contact.

The committee is attracted to a new contact enforcement law which came into force in Australia last December. This sets up a three stage scheme.

Stage 1, prevention, aims to ensure that parents are aware of the responsibilities imposed by the order and the consequences if they break it.

If an order is broken for the first time, stage 2 comes into play. The offending parent can be required to attend a parenting programme and the parent denied contact can be given extra contact time.

For serious or persistent breaches, the court can order the offender to work in community service or to lodge a bond - a promise to comply in future, possibly backed by a surety who will forefeit a sum of money if the promise is broken. More flagrant breaches can be punished by a fine of up to $A6,600, with jail terms of up to 12 months for serious breaches.

The sub-committee is also expected to recommend more use of mediation to resolve intractable contact disputes.

In California, mothers who flout contact orders can be forced to do community service.

Under legislation which came into force last year in the Canadian province of Alberta, mothers can be fined up to Canadian $100 for each day they fail to comply with an access order, up to a maximum of $5,000.