The government has announced the “groundbreaking” repeal of the presumption of parental involvement in family court in England and Wales, following a government harm panel review.
Under the Children Act 1989, the presumption of parental involvement ensures that courts in England and Wales will presume that the involvement of a parent in a child’s life will further the child’s welfare unless there is evidence to the contrary. Following the government’s review, and a recommendation in 2020 which found that an “urgent” review must be conducted to address the issue, the government has confirmed that the presumption will be repealed when “parliamentary time allows”.
The decision to repeal the presumption comes after a number of independent reviews and research, with one report for the domestic abuse commissioner’s office early this month highlighting how, in a number of cases, parental contact has been allowed, even when domestic abuse has been present within the family. Removing the presumption will mean that family court judges are no longer required to begin their ruling with the basis that parental involvement is in a child’s best interest. Instead, judges will be directed to rule on a case-by-case basis, where both evidence and a child’s well-being will be at the forefront of considerations.
Many involved in campaigning for the repeal have called the government’s move a “victory for children’s rights”, with the presence of a “pro-contact culture’ in family courts previously leaving many children at risk of harm by parents who had displayed abusive behaviour towards their children and partners.
Right to Equality’s report on ending the presumption of contact in family courts back in 2024 outlined a number of concerns surrounding the safety of children under the “pro-contact culture”. Co-directors of the report, Dr Adrienne Barnett and Dr Charlotte Proudman, highlighted how the now-repealed presumption left many children without a “valid voice in decisions about their lives,” and if children were resistant to contact, this was likely to be disregarded, regardless of whether the child had experienced domestic abuse.
The government’s decision has also been seen as an “unequivocally positive step” towards protecting mothers who have survived domestic abuse in the family court system, according to Professor Shazia Choudhry, from the University of Oxford. Chief Executive of Women’s Aid, Farah Nazeer, added that the presumption has previously left women choosing not to leave their abusers because the court will allow children to have contact on the basis that continued contact with both parents is beneficial.
Additionally, the presumption has previously raised concerns in cases where domestic abuse and claims of parental alienation are raised. In many cases, the mother accuses the other parent of abuse, and the father will, in turn, make a counter-allegation that the children have been manipulated against him – also known as parental alienation. However, research has often indicated that parental alienation is a “harmful pseudoscience” which appears rarely in family court cases. The tactic has often been used to silence domestic abuse victims, with the presumption of parental involvement in family courts previously working in favour of perpetrators having continued contact with their children.
It is clear that family courts have previously failed to take domestic abuse seriously despite the criminal behaviour appearing in nine out of 10 cases, with the government’s decision marking a clear step forward in favour of protecting victims of domestic abuse in family life.
With these concerns in mind, the Chief Executive of Women’s Aid has supported the government’s decision to reveal the presumption, suggesting that “specialist domestic and sexual abuse training” should be mandated for judges. She called for such moves to address “the fact that years of pro-contact culture will take time and education to reverse, and to ensure that preventable mistakes are avoided and both women and child survivors are kept safe”.
The government’s decision to move away from the archaic belief that contact with both parents is essential to childhood development is not only a step forward in increasing children’s safety in families across England and Wales, but also a move toward ensuring greater protections are in place for women who have survived domestic abuse at the hands of their children’s father.
