Arrangements for children on marriage breakdown with special reference to access

Abstract

The objectives of this study were to consider the causes of disputes, particularly access disputes, between parties after separation, and the adequacy of children orders in resolving these disputes. The methodology included recorded interviews with separated parents, court personnel and welfare officers; an examination of the records of a magistrates' court for one year and comparison with the results of a national study of divorce courts;and a review of the literature on legal and welfare practices, and the effects of divorce on children. A number of hypotheses were tested in the study: these concerned the causes of access disputes; the relevance of children orders in undisputed custody and access cases; the courts' practice concerning granting custody to fathers; the ability of the court to enforce.its access orders against the wishes of the custodian parent; and the usefulness of matrimonial supervision orders in alleviating stresses between parties arid facilitating access.
The actual achievements of the study include the description of the marriage breakdown of a small number of parties and the grievances that remained after the separations; an examination of the behaviour of the parties after the separation and the possible effects of this behaviour on the children; the court remedies provided for these particular parties, and an approximate estimate of the work of the courts in the city of the study, including welfare work under matrimonial supervision orders; the method of communication between the courts and the welfare services; and an examination of the assumptions and practices of court and welfare personnel on custody, access, welfare reports and matrimonial supervision orders.
An assessment is made of the extent to which the courts and welfare services satisfied the needs of parents and children, and recommendations are made on how legal and welfare services could be modified, and on the need for additional extra-legal services.