Better rights for grandparents as Government sets up families task force

The Government has set up a Childhood and Families Task Force to look at ways of providing better support for children, parents and grandparents.

It will be chaired by the Prime Minister David Cameron and will examine ways to provide better protection for children in the event of a family breakdown. It will also cover several key areas that could help to improve family life including shared parental leave, extending the right to request flexible working and greater support for disabled children.

The move was announced by the Deputy Prime Minister in a speech to Barnardo’s. He said: “Separation and divorce can be deeply traumatic for any family. We need to look at how we can protect children in the event of family breakdown; preventing breakdown where we can, making it as painless as possible where we can't.”

There is already a review of family law underway which is looking at ways to use mediation between couples as a way of reducing the trauma both for parents and for their children.

The Task Force will also look at ways to provide greater contact rights to non-resident parents and for grandparents too.

As the law stands at the moment, grandparents have no automatic right to have contact with their grandchildren.

This means they can face a difficult battle if a family breakdown means they are denied access by a son or daughter-in-law or even in some cases by their own children.

The Task Force will try to address this. There is already evidence that the courts are increasingly willing to recognise the valuable role that grandparents can play in their grandchildren’s lives.

In a major case, the Supreme Court recently ruled that a child would be better off living with his grandmother rather than be returned to his biological father. In another separate case, a grandmother won the right to be paid the full carer’s rate for looking after her granddaughter.

These were important landmarks in recognising the role of grandparents and the new Task Force will try to improve the situation further, to the benefit of children, parents and grandparents.

We shall keep clients informed of developments. In the meantime, please contact us if you would like more information about any aspect of family law.

 

July 2010

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