Contact
Contact replaces the old term “access”. A contact order requires the person with whom a child is living to visit or stay with the person named in the order, or for that person and the child otherwise to have contact with each other.Contact can cover physical contact but also contact by letter or telephone or email.
A contact order can also be made to prevent contact with someone.
The court’s approach is that the child has a right to know both parents and so the starting point is that a child should have contact with the absent parent/person. However a court will consider all the circumstances of each particular situation for example a person’s conduct, the emotional welfare and stability of the child, etc in deciding what is in a child’s best interests.
For further advice on this issue please do not hesitate to contact our Family Department Judi Bonham, Beth Evans, Fiona Thornton .