Contact held in child's interests despite father's offending

Family law

Sheriff Principal Lockhart has reminded us that a parent may not be a perfect partner and can even be a dishonest rascal, but that isn't enough to justify depriving a child of any contact with an errant father.

In AA v BB the defender had been deprived of all parental responsibilities and rights. He had been convicted of arranging sham marriages.

Nevertheless there was nothing in his conduct to suggest he might be a risk to his child. The sheriff had applied too little weight to the importance of retaining the parent-child link. He also failed to consider that this was of particular importance where the parents were ethnically mixed.

Further, the sheriff had relied too heavily on considerations including the stress to the mother, the convictions and the uncertainty of a pending immigration tribunal.

On appeal, it was directed that supervised contact should be attempted.

With a nod perhaps to the ECHR, the sheriff principal also instructed further procedure to be dealt with by another sheriff.

Click here to view the judgment.