January is often referred to as “Divorce Month” by family law professionals, as it consistently sees a noticeable spike in divorce filings and inquiries. The Ministry of Justice’s Family Court Statistics has revealed that in the UK there was a 60% increase in new divorce applications being made in January compared to December last year.
Divorce is a complex and profoundly emotional process that affects not just the couple involved but also their children. While the focus often remains on the emotional and financial implications for the divorcing spouses, the impact on children can be equally, if not more, significant.
The Children Act of 1989 states that a child’s welfare is the most important consideration when they are involved in family disputes. Yet, in many divorce cases, the legal framework continues to primarily address asset division, child care, and financial support, rather than prioritising the psychological and emotional needs of children.
The recent scoping report published by the Law Commission followed this trend, failing to reinforce the importance of caring for the emotional and mental impact of divorce on a child’s wellbeing. While the report, which consulted almost exclusively on lawyers, is excellent in many areas and offers great recommendations for potential divorce law reform, it is disappointing that there is no reference to the impact upon children of parental conflict and why their welfare needs should also be a consideration for the review.
Studies have found that children who experience divorce are at greater risk of a variety of challenges, such as anxiety, depression, behavioural problems, poor academic performance, and difficulties with forming future relationships. Without explicit mechanisms in place to address the emotional toll of divorce, children may not receive the support they need to navigate these challenges. There is an urgent need for a more child and family wellbeing-centric approach to divorce law.
If we are to see a change in attitudes, the government must play a key role and hold the welfare principle firmly at the centre of all future policy work in private family law. One way this can be achieved is through greater cooperation between government departments. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has spent £77m on a reducing parental conflict programme,yet out of the 150 stakeholders consulted in a recent report published before Christmas which looked at the future of the programme, none were lawyers. Without greater cooperation, we cannot expect significant changes in the status quo. The DWP must work in partnership with the Ministry of Justice to ensure that there is a voice for children in the private family law space.
Alongside greater cooperation, the government should also provide training to magistrates, so they implement the new laws introduced last April. These give the family court the ability to adjourn cases who have not made meaningful attempts to engage in Non Court Dispute Resolution (NCDR) activities such as mediation. Those new rules appear not to have landed in practice, and are simply waiting for the family judiciary to start applying them.
Applying robust NCDR rules, would be cost effective for parents and for the state; it would avoid the expensive litigation process and would reduce court backlogs, allowing the judicial system to focus on cases that cannot be resolved through alternative means. However, there is an equally important reason why NCDR moves must be encouraged, which is to promote child welfare. Too often, the knock-on impact on children of legal processes are overlooked by the legal sector, as has been the case with the Law Commission report.
Whilst the government’s changes to Family Procedure Rules in April last year, does seem to have improved the engagement in mediation, particularly through the mediation voucher scheme, there still needs to be an increased uptake of evidence-based separated parent programmes that are proven to reduce parental conflict and minimise adverse effects on children.
At Triple P, our Family Transitions programme is designed for parents who are experiencing personal distress from separation or divorce, which is impacting or complicating their parenting. Family Transitions Triple P is available through many local authorities across the country in England as a practitioner-led intervention and has been proven to have long-term, positive impacts on children’s mental health and wellbeing. Specifically, children whose parent(s) had completed the programme significantly improved their emotional and behavioural challenges, including reduced emotional problems, hyperactivity, and peer problems. More recently, Family Transitions has been launched online, in order to remove barriers of access and ensure as many families as possible have access to this valuable resource.
Going forward, it is essential that these programmes are embedded as part of the legal process. Triple P’s own polling found that 75% of UK parents still feel a stigma attached to asking for professional help. To ensure children’s wellbeing is central to future divorce cases, we must ensure that families going through divorce know that there is support available and can access evidence-based separated parenting programmes, online or practitioner delivered, that help break down the barriers associated with seeking support. Many practitioners speak of the impact of these non-legal interventions in shifting parental mindsets, emphasising further the importance of including them as part of NCDR options.
Divorce can be a traumatic experience for children, and their emotional, developmental, and social wellbeing must be safeguarded throughout the process. By reinstating the importance of children’s needs, involving them in decision-making when appropriate and providing parents with access to evidence-based parental support, we can ensure family members emerge from the divorce process with a stronger parent-child relationship. It is important to remember that the voice of a child is still the greatest tool we have to bring about change. We must ensure a child-centred approach is reinforced as the standard for divorce proceedings, with courts, legal professionals, and parents working together to minimize harm and maximize children’s long-term wellbeing.
Matt Buttery, CEO Triple P UK