Family Law Aberdeen Latest News

The Court of Appeal has recently presided over a complex child custody case between a gay man and his lesbian ex-wife and partner, reports the Daily Mail.

The Government body responsible for child maintenance has revealed the scale of the cost of administering some Child Support Agency (CSA) cases. A typical case requiring a variety of actions to ensure the payment of maintenance can cost up to around £25,000 over 18 years.

An extra £20 million will be made available to support separated and separating families as part of the radical overhaul of the Child Maintenance system, Ministers have announced.

A new report by children's charity, Action for Children, has found that over half (51%) of social workers, and a third of police officers (36%) feel 'powerless' to intervene in suspected cases of child neglect.

Plans to charge single parents to use the future CSA, including up to 12% of any maintenance collected by the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission are set to be challenged by a senior Conservative Peer on the final day of the Welfare Reform Bill’s Report Stage.

The Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission has published findings from a 2010 survey of 2,009 separated parents using the Child Maintenance Options telephone service. The survey’s primary aim was to determine the number of children benefiting from a family-based child maintenance arrangement, following contact with the Child Maintenance Options telephone service, between July 2008 and the end of March 2010.

Measures to improve the experience for child witnesses while they give evidence have been outlined by the Scottish Government.

The Government has recently unveiled its proposals for the new child maintenance scheme. Work and Pensions Minister Maria Miller said the Government wants to increase child maintenance payments for some of the worst-off single parent families.

A seriously overweight young boy from Ohio has been removed from his family following concerns that his weight was putting his health at risk, reports Fox11online.com.

The NSPCC has launched a new campaign to highlight the vulnerability of babies and the needs of new parents.

A record-breaking single payment of £108,000 has been forcibly deducted from a father's bank account. The man had failed to pay any maintenance for his daughter for more than 16 years, refusing to respond to letters and calls from the Child Support Agency.

The Fostering Network is advising the Government against an overwhelming focus on adoption as the way to solve the problems facing the care system, and is cautioning against the use of league tables and targets.

The Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration (SCRA) has recently published its Annual Report 2010/11, which provides a detailed statistical breakdown of its activities during the year.

New research has shown that the government could make huge progress in addressing the growing issue of child poverty in the UK by improving the collection of child maintenance.

Results from a recent survey have revealed that 46% of single parents currently using the Child Support Agency (CSA) to access child maintenance payments could not afford to pay the fees proposed to access the new child maintenance service.

A couple from Dundee are facing the possibility of permanently losing four of their seven children, after concerns were raised about the children's weight levels, reports the Telegraph.

The Scottish Children's Reporter Administration (SCRA) has launched a new suite of information materials for children and young people attending Hearings. 

A court in Australia has ruled that a sperm donor is not entitled to have his name on the birth certificate of the child conceived with his sperm, reports the BBC.

A joint statement from charities Barnardo's and Gingerbread has warned that the Government's proposed changes to the child maintenance system could negatively impact on the lives of families that rely on maintenance payments.