Women’s Aid respond to Westminster Hall Debate on the presumption of child contact in family courts

Sophie Francis-Cansfield, Head of Policy at Women’s Aid, said:

“Women’s Aid would like to thank Marie Tidball MP for leading an important discussion on the presumption of child contact in family courts during yesterday’s Westminster Hall Debate. The risk of domestic abuse perpetrators causing long-term harm to children is severe, yet for decades now, there has continued to be a dominant ‘contact at all costs’ culture in the Family Courts, which has previously been supported by Government, that prioritise parental involvement over the safety and wellbeing of a child. This debate was an important step in implementing changes which will ensure the protection of children.

Claire Throssell MBE, who is the Ambassador for Women’s Aid’s Child First campaign and the constituent of Marie Tidball MP, has campaigned tirelessly to remove the presumption of child contact and save lives since her sons, Jack and Paul, were horrifically killed by their father during unsupervised contact 10 years ago. Claire’s commitment and resolve led to the publication of the Harm Panel report, which called for an urgent review into this harmful presumption. Sadly, nearly 5 years on, we are still awaiting the publication of the review and recommendations from the report, produced by an expert panel, are yet to be actioned. As witnessed in the recent case of Sara Sharif, dangerous contact continues to be an issue and is putting lives at risk.

We are pleased that Members of Parliament echoed our call for the recommendations of the Harm Panel report to be implemented, and that the Minister agreed with Women’s Aid that the definition of ‘harm to the child’ needs to be changed to encompass a wider range of abuse. It is our hope that after the debate yesterday, the urgency of this issue has been made clear and that action will be taken to ensure the protection of children, so that no more innocent lives are lost.”