Family Law Aberdeen Latest News

In a move that will help people living in the EU to recover child maintenance if their ex-partner happens to move abroad, MEPs last week took the final steps towards allowing an international Treaty to come into force in the EU.

The Hague Convention on the International Recovery of Child Support and Other Forms of Family Maintenance will not, however, apply in the UK or Denmark.

Welcoming the vote in the European Parliament, Mr López-Istúriz White, who was in charge of steering the latest amendments through Parliament, explained:

“In the EU 13% of couples include someone from a country outside the EU. Thousands of European citizens that do not have the right to child maintenance can now ask for that. This new law also creates a central European authority, which will gather all the claims from all the citizens around the European Union and ask governments of third countries about those particular claims.”

“I call on Denmark specifically and the United Kingdom to join the Convention as soon as possible so we can have an agreement for the whole of Europe,” he added.

The Government has published details of the Children and Young People (Scotland) Bill.

The Bill proposes a range of measures, which include:

• Looked after two year olds and those with a kinship care order will receive the same entitlement as three and four year olds
• A named person for every child and young person from birth to safeguard and support their wellbeing, working with other bodies as required
• Providing kinship carers with more support from local authorities to increase family stability.

Minister for Children and Young People Aileen Campbell also announced an extra £10 million on top of the £20 million third sector fund to be shared between 45 organisations working closely with children, young people and families, as part of wider investment in prevention and early intervention. This lifts the total budget for the fund to £30 million over two years, an increase on the funding available over the previous two years.

A 12 week consultation on the Bill was launched in July 2012 and was accompanied by extensive stakeholder communication, including national engagement events with over 800 stakeholders and activities with nearly 2,400 children and young people.

The Children and Young People (Scotland) Bill will also increase the powers of Scotland’s Commissioner for Children and Young People as well as improving support for kinship carers, families and care leavers

Human rights organisation Liberty has announced it will seek Judicial Review of the Government’s controversial new “bedroom tax” policy based on the impact on separated families with shared custody of children.

The scheme – part of wider welfare reforms – will cut residents’ Housing Benefit if they are deemed to have a “spare” room in their home. It will apply from April this year to all council or housing association tenants of working age.

Liberty wants to challenge the lawfulness of the proposals – on the grounds they are irrational and a violation of Articles 8 and/or 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights; the right to a private and family life and no discrimination.

The human rights group is representing three clients whose families will be adversely affected by the policy as their children do not live with them on a full-time basis as part of agreed custody arrangements.

Corinna Ferguson, Legal Officer for Liberty, said:

“In no way can these loving parents be accused of ‘under-occupying’ their properties or having ‘spare bedrooms’ – these rooms are very much their children’s and home to many of their belongings. This bedroom tax could destroy thousands of similar arrangements for shared care of children, at enormous social cost. Why is a Government that prides itself on prioritising families penalising people merely for having children?”

Recent figures from the Department for Work and Pensions have shown that the vast majority of parents who use the Child Support Agency (CSA) are now paying for their children.

The number of parents using the CSA who are paying towards their children has jumped in recent years – and now stands at almost four in five (79.5%).

Minister for Child Maintenance Steve Webb said:

"These figures show we now live in a society where parental financial responsibility after separation is just considered the norm by people.

"A third of children now live in separated families and we know that the overwhelming majority of parents want to do what’s right by their kids - even if they’re no longer with the other parent.

"Wherever possible we want parents to work together for the sake of their children - not against one another. Supporting your children after a break up is just what most parents do these days.

"Recent YouGov research shows nine in ten people believe children are better off when both parents work together to agree child support between themselves after they break up. And the evidence backs that up."

A man has been awarded damages of £25,000 after being tricked by his ex-wife into believing that he was the father of her two children, reports the Daily Mail.

The couple married in 1990, and the first child was born in 1992, followed by the second child in 1994. The couple divorced in 2004, and Richard Rodwell paid child maintenance after his ex-wife was awarded custody of the two children.

Mr Rodwell requested DNA tests in 2008 after rumours surfaced about the children’s paternity. The tests proved that the children had different fathers, neither of which was him.

Mr Rodwell sued his ex-wife for deceit, and was awarded £12,500 compensation for each child, plus costs of £25,000.

A recent study in Australia has found that modern parenting schedules post-divorce show a greater sharing of parental responsibilities and richer paternal involvement than previously evident.

The research, led by Dr Bruce Smyth of the ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences, found that children generally moved between homes two or four times each fortnight, on average.

“This is an important new finding because there have been concerns that children in 50/50 arrangements often move between mum’s and dad’s house in ‘ping-pong’ type arrangements,” Dr Smyth said.

“But the new data suggests that arrangements involving frequent moves between homes are not the norm. Fewer transitions help to limit children’s exposure to parental hostility at handovers and offers greater predictability for children, especially young children.

"All parenting arrangements involve trade-offs, single long blocks of time with each parent require fewer transitions for children, but involve longer absences from one parent. By contrast, more fragmented schedules require more transitions for children but help to minimise the time away from each parent.

“We are finding that separated parents are putting in place much more varied, creative and lateral arrangements to spend time with their children than was previously the case.”

A nationwide poll has given a massive boost to grandparent carers, backing the case for giving them the same support as foster carers. This comes at a time when charities are concerned that new welfare reform proposals could penalise families taking on additional caring responsibilities.

The 1996 Hague Convention is now in force in the UK, and as a result children from the UK will have international protection if they move to another country outside the European Union.

A new report from the Fostering Network has claimed that children in care are being denied the chance to experience a full and proper childhood because too many foster carers are not allowed to make basic decisions.

A new report warns of the stark reality of life for families where drinking has reached hazardous levels and is calling for a series of wide ranging reforms to tackle the problem. The report, by charity 4Children, demands better support and information for families.

The Scottish Government has launched its national parenting strategy, which aims to provide Scotland's parents with easier and better access to information and support.

The Fostering Network has released the results of a recent survey, which shows that 90% of children living with foster families believe that their carers should be paid a wage or fee like staff in children's homes. Currently only around half of foster carers are paid anything at all.

The US Supreme Court is to hear an international custody case involving a Scottish woman and her American ex-husband, reports the Scotsman.

The Scottish Court Service has launched a consultation on 'Proposals for Procedural Rules in the Sheriff Court for the Children's Hearings (Scotland) Act 2011'.

Millions of pounds for children will be lost in the government’s shake-up of the child maintenance system warns Gingerbread, as new DWP data reveals that 100,000 parents are expected to drop out of the system and stop getting child maintenance altogether.

The Government has unveiled detailed plans for the new and radically reshaped child maintenance system in Great Britain. There will be extra help for separated parents who want to support their children and new penalties for those who won't.

The Scottish Parliament's Education and Culture Committee is to conduct an examination of the decisions made about when or if a child should be removed from the family home.

The NSPCC is warning that a sharp increase in reports of neglect cases will place additional pressure on already stretched children's services.

Almost two-thirds of local authorities in Scotland have had to split up siblings who are in care over the past year owing to the shortage of foster families, new research from the Fostering Network has shown.

The National Audit Office has reported that the Auditor General has once again been unable to give a full sign off to the Client Funds Account of the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission because of the level of error in maintenance assessments.