The House of Lords Select Committee on the Children and Families Act 2014 report published

Resolution campaigns for better laws and better support for families and children undergoing family change. They submitted written evidence to the committee on the Children and Families Act 2014. This included the following proposed reforms:

1.) Future reforms need to ensure the centrality of the voice of the child and address the narrow scope of private family legal aid.

2.) Applicants and children need to move through the family justice system more quickly, perhaps involving the introduction of a statutory time limit on child arrangements proceedings.

3.) A ‘joined up government approach’ to help families access early family support and to steer more cases, where appropriate and safe, away from the family justice system are needed.

Commenting on the publication of the report, Chair of the Committee Baroness Tyler of Enfield said:

“The Children and Families Act 2014 was passed with the good intentions of giving greater protection to vulnerable children, better support for children whose parents are separating, a new system to help children with special educational needs and disabilities, and help for parents to balance work and family life. Regrettably, our inquiry has shown that this could have been the case, had any real focus been on implementing and monitoring the impact of the Act, without the added incessant churn within the Government. Instead, it was a missed opportunity and has ultimately failed in meaningfully improving the lives of children and young people… The welfare of children and young people should be the Government’s paramount concern when developing policies in this area. We urge them not to allow another eight years to pass before they make the improvements which are so demonstrably necessary.”

You can read the full report here from ‘The Children and Families Act 2014 Committee’ on the UK Parliament website: Children and Families Act 2014: A failure of implementation

You can read the full report from Resolution, including their response, here: Resolution - ‘Children and Families Act 2014: A failure of implementation’

Kent and Surrey Family Resolution have a key aim to help you consider effective, economical and quicker alternatives to using the traditional family court system for resolving family disputes, such as divorce or separation. Alternatives include family mediation, family arbitration, collaborative family, law, or bespoke hybrid family, mediation. Issues such as pensions, property, mortgages, finances, other assets, and deciding childcare or living arrangements can also be discussed to find a proposed future solution, with an emphasis on collaboration and resolution.