Transcript Scottish Social Attitudes Survey 2004 Family Module

Private arrangements for parent-child
contact
Fran Wasoff
Centre for Research on Families and Relationships
and School of Social and Political Studies
University of Edinburgh
ESRC and Scottish Executive Public Policy Seminar
Edinburgh, 3 May 2006
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Contact and residence
• Contact and residence are legal concepts that encompass a variety of
living arrangements: day visits, overnight and holiday residential stays,
telephone and email, letters, presents
• These can involve lengthy and complex processes that evolve over time
• Contact is a means to an end, which is a good parent-child relationship
• ‘Good’ contact should be measured in terms of its quality rather than its
quantity
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Children (Scotland) Act 1995
The legal framework:
Contact is a parental responsibility and right:
• Section 1 states the responsibility: “if the child is not living with
the parent, to maintain personal relations and direct contact with
the child on a regular basis .... but only in so far as compliance
with this section is practicable and in the interests of the child.”
• Section 2 gives a parent the right “if the child is not living with
him, to maintain personal relations and direct contact with the
child on a regular basis”.
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Contact and non-resident parents
It is not known exactly how many children in Scotland do not live with both
of their parents but the number is substantial.
Percentage of households with dependent children by type
Family type
% 1991
% 2001
Married couple with dependent children*
76
64
Cohabiting couple with dependent children
4
10
Lone parent with dependent children
19
26
TOTAL
100
100
Sources: 1991 and 2001 censuses
A cross-national health survey of Scottish young people aged 11, 13,
15 found 17% live in lone parent families and 12% in step-families.
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Patterns of contact
Currently, information in Scotland about the private arrangements
families make is not available, but there is information from
comparable countries.
Broadly speaking, that evidence points to:
• wide variation in patterns of contact
• higher levels between non-resident parents and children than is
commonly believed
• contact mainly arranged by mutual agreement between parents, with
infrequent use of the courts
• parents --both resident and non-resident--mainly say their
arrangements are satisfactory, in contrast to high levels of conflict in
cases involving the courts
• a significant minority of children seem to have little or no contact with
their non-resident parent
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Patterns of contact: England & Wales
The Office for National Statistics published survey evidence in 2003 from
935 parents about non-residential parental contact with children (DCA
2004). Key findings:
• Only 10 % of contact arrangements are court ordered
• Most contact informally arranged between parents, most often if they
live near each other or are recently separated.
• Resident and non-resident parents reported different levels of contact,
for reasons that are not clear.
• Face-to-face contact at least once a week reported by 43% of resident
parents and 59 % of non-resident parents.
• 77 % of non-resident parents (and 60% of resident parents) said the
non-resident parent saw their children at least once a month
• 10% of non-resident parents and 23% of resident parents said their
children never saw the non-resident parent
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Patterns of contact: England & Wales
• Overall, most children had direct or indirect contact with their nonresident parent at least once a week, and stayed overnight with them.
• Typically, children saw their non-resident parent at the parent’s home.
• Contact was less frequent the longer parents had been separated or
the further apart they lived.
• Contact centres were used by fewer than 1% of children to meet their
non-resident parent.
• Overall, both resident and non-resident parents were satisfied with the
contact arrangements. Those ordered by a court were far less
satisfactory.
• Both resident and non-resident parents said that what would most
improve things was more direct contact between the non-resident
parent and the child.
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Patterns of contact: Norway
• The number of children living with just one parent has increased, and
in 2004 was 25% of those aged under 18
• 82% of children lived with their mothers; 8% with their fathers and
10% shared residence.
• 80% of parents have a contact agreement: 43% written and 35% oral.
• On average, agreements provided that non-resident parents spend
8.3 days per month with their child. In practice, it is about seven days
per month
• 79% said there had been contact in the previous month.
• As in England and Wales, non-resident parents reported more
frequent contact than resident ones.
• Contact is more frequent when parents live near each other; children
are younger; parents married or more highly educated.
• Most non-resident parents were satisfied with contact arrangements.
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Patterns of contact: Sweden
• Sweden has high and increasing levels of partnership breakdown twice as high for cohabitations (into which half of children are born) as
for marriages.
• In 1999, ~ 25% of children aged 0-17 did not live with both parents:
17% lived in lone parent families and 9% in step-families. More
experience multiple changes.
• Following separation, both parents usually have the equivalent of
parental responsibilities and rights. Most children (84%) live with their
mothers, though shared residence is increasing (about 5-10%).
• Contact with a non-resident parent is more frequent for younger
children:, 59% of pre-school children saw their non-resident parent at
least fortnightly, compared to 40% of 13-15 year olds and 32% of 1617 year olds.
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Patterns of contact: Australia
Shared
Standard
Daytime
Little or
none
Total
Resident & coparent mothers
5%
38%
18%
39%
632
Non-resident &
co-parent fathers
8%
50%
14%
29%
407
Standard contact: up to 29 % of nights p.a., typically every other
weekend or every weekend
Daytime contact: no overnight stays
Little or no contact: less than once a year
Information from over 1000 parents who did not live with the other parent of their
children in the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey in
2001.
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Parenting after separation: research
messages
• While divorce increases the risk of adverse outcomes for children, and
stress in the short-term, most children do not suffer harmful long-term
effects.
• Studies point repeatedly to the damaging effects on children of
parental conflict
• Parents can take steps, with help from professionals and support
agencies, to minimise risk.
• Co-operative parenting is best for well-being and development
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Negotiating private arrangements
A research gap in Scotland. While family law and policy encourages
contact, little known about the experience, activities and processes at
work. Little known about how children’s views are taken into account,
even though due regard should be given to their views.
A 2002 study in England found that where contact worked satisfactorily:
• conflict was low and manageable
• there was a shared commitment to making contact work
• parents could negotiate and compromise
• legal intervention was not necessary
• benefits of contact outweighed any problems
Where contact worked less well:
• parents lacked commitment and lots of conflict.
• Children had difficulties in their relationships with a non-resident
parent’s new partner, lack of consultation, and practical problems
about handovers.
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Private ordering in Scotland
• A 1990s study of informal, legally binding separation agreements
(minutes of agreement) found that in almost all cases involving
children, residence was discussed and agreed, and in 90% of cases
was with the mother.
• Contact was raised in about 75% of cases involving children, and in
about 1/5 a precise arrangement was made. More typically, the
agreement was stated as ‘by mutual agreement between the parties’.
• Many of those who made agreements were later dissatisfied with them
and wished they had made more specific arrangements, which would
help them plan better
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Lessons from Australia?
• A network of 65 community-based government-funded Family
Relationship Centres from July 2006
• Based on these ideas: the best interests of the child is most
important; shared parental responsibility following separation is
encouraged; children should spend time regularly with the nonresident parent, and maintain links with wider kin, e.g. grandparents.
• A single entry point to the family law and support system to foster
more use of private arrangements for parent-child contact.
• Child contact centres, services under the Contact Orders Program,
mediation and other dispute resolution services to expand.
• Parents are encouraged to develop parenting plans and to try to
resolve contact and residence issues privately,
• Lawyers and courts are seen as a last resort. Court proceedings less
adversarial and likely to increase conflict
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Support policies and services in Scotland
Contact centres: neutral settings to facilitate contact, e.g. if high conflict or a
history of domestic abuse
Non-legislative measures linked to the Family Law (Scotland) Act 2006
• Enhanced support for family and relationship organisations.
• Parenting agreements
• Grandchildren’s Charter
Public support for family support organisations
• Scottish Executive support for family relationship services ~ £1.4m p.a.
• Plus £250k p.a. for the national bodies, one-off £300k for further
capacity-building, and local support for local services.
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Parenting agreements in Scotland
For parents “to make practical and workable arrangements for their children by
themselves”.
• Living arrangements
• Keeping in touch
• School
• Holidays and other ‘special’ days
• Health
• Money matters
Values
• Child-centred
• Regular contact
• Communication and agreement between parents; respectful, flexible, reviewed
• Taking account of children’s views; keep them informed
Builds on research and good practice here and elsewhere
Assess how this works
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