What is happening?

Michael Gove announced on March 24^th, “children who are under 18 can move between separated parents.” Whilst, lockdown rules have been adjusted to aid separated parents in sharing custody, many parents remain concerned and conflicted.These concerns range from:the health risks of children moving between homes, the practicality of children visitingparents who live in different parts of the country and in extreme cases the world. Also, the wider impacts of the pandemic on many parents such as, an inability to make maintenance payments and disputes over their children’s schooling.

What does this mean?

The Courts and Tribunals Judiciary’s adviceis:“Parental responsibility for a child who is the subject of a CAO made by the Family Court rests with the child’s parents and not with the court.”Most parentshave the intention of maintaining pre COVID-19 child custody agreements but are unable to for a number of reasons.

Parents who live in different parts of the country face different travel rules. Those in Wales had to follow a 5-mile travel guidance were as; in England this was not the case. Also,The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) advises against international travel; separating parents and children who live in different countries. For these reasons many families have resorted to alternatives such as, online communication through video calls.

A recent source of dispute between parents is when and whether to send their children to school. England’sEducation Secretary Gavin Williamsonreverted plans to reopen primary schools after only 11% of pupils returned. Similarly, parents have differing views over when or even if their children should return to school.A recent survey conducted by Reason Foundation found 15% of respondents will continue home-schooling even when schools re-open.

Another issue that may impactseparated parents will be child maintenance payments. The Institute for Social Economic Research at the University of Essex predicts,at least 6.5 million jobs will be lost as a result of the pandemic.Parents who are responsible for making child maintenance payments are likely to be impacted by this and may not be able to make their regular payments. This could impact 48% of families who in 2018 had child maintenance arrangements.

How does it impact the legal sector?

Family lawyers must be up to date with the most recent changes to lockdown and social distancing rules alongside the law. Creating empathy amongst parents who are separated from their children is highly important in enabling them to actively considerthe broader social issues that may be impacting their ability to see their children.

Family lawyers are available to advise clients on the reasonableness of a parent’s decisions to change custody arrangements, most likely it will be through virtual methods of video calls. When CAO’s are challenged by a parent it will then go to courthowever, this will not be a quick process, judges face a backlog of cases, once the case is heard often the solution is not clear-cut.