Avoid court in family cases: charity backs judge's call

Shared Parenting Scotland has called for a less adversarial approach to resolving parenting disputes on separation or divorce, following a similar call by the senior family law judge in England & Wales.

The charity spoke out following remarks by Sir Andrew McFarlane, President of the Family Division of the High Court, on BBC radio yesterday when, talking about the time that cases take in court, he commented: "Research shows consistently that if you're the child of parents who are at odds with each other, whether or not they are coming to court, that is unhealthy. It does your head in, to put it in straightforward terms."

In a blunt reminder to parents that courts are not the best place to resolve "relationship disputes", he added: "The hostile, adversarial language used in family court often makes things worse and needs to change – comparing the problem to the bitter divorce battle in the 1979 film Kramer Vs Kramer.

Shared Parenting Scotland national manager, Ian Maxwell, said: "Our system is no better in Scotland. Court cases take too long; their outcome is unpredictable and inconsistent between courts and encourages separated parents to undermine each other's worth and competence to win the case. We completely agree with Sir Andrew that parents are fooling themselves if they think that the process doesn’t harm their children.

"We also agree with Sir Andrew that there should be alternative, less adversarial routes to helping parents resolve their disagreements after separation or divorce. Parents need support in putting the broad welfare of their children first exactly at the time when they may be least able to do it amid the disruption of their relationship breakup."

Shared Parenting Scotland is presently running a pilot of a programme called New Ways For Families that helps parents learn the emotional and communication skills that reduce time wasted on unproductive hostility and brings them back to the priority of putting their children first. A feature appears in this month's Journal.