The Custody Minefield Project In 2006, I started this project with the aim of providing a resource for parents and families irrespective of gender who are caught up in separation disputes which concern the children of the family. My goal is to assist families in being informed as to their legal rights, and assist them in finding the best outcome for their children.
NEW & UPDATED CONTENT · Grandparents Rights - Extensive media coverage on 19th May 2009 and Gloria Hunniford gives her backing to the campaign. · Leave to Remove - Updated to take into account Re W case law and more child welfare related research concerning the impact on children of separation from a parent. · Internal Relocation - New legal factsheet regarding circumstances where one parent wishes to move within the UK and take the children with them. · Flexible Working - Rights extended to all parents whose children are under the age of 16 - April '09. · Shared Residence - Updated to include Feb '09 research from the Children's Society and further explanation of case law relating to when shared residence orders may be made - April '09. · Legal Updates - New Case Law - Leave to Remove - Re W (Children) [2009] EWCA Civ 160 - Key points: Concern contact would cease, Motive not proven, No medical evidence to support that the mother would experience more than disappointment if her application were refused - Jan '09. · Legal Updates - New Case Law - Internal Relocation - Re T (A Child) [2009] EWCA Civ 20 - Key points: Midweek parenting time was granted to the father to prevent the mother's application to relocate with the child from London to Somerset - a Shared Residence Order is not an 'automatic bar' to relocation, but is an important consideration - there had been previous attempts by the mother to relocate to Israel - Jan '09. · Grandparents Rights– Recent media coverage and TCM Comment. · Legal Updates – Credit crunch in 2008, Justice crunch in 2009 - the MoJ does for our legal system what the Treasury has done for the economy. · Papers– Midland Region Family Judges and Magistrates guidance for separating parents - superb, and a presumption of shared parenting? · NewFactsheet – Private Fostering · New Factsheet - Enforcing Contact Orders. · Legal Updates - New Case Law – Internal Relocation · New research by the Children's Society further supports that the denial or limitation of contact between children and their fathers significantly impacts on child wellbeing. See our Leave to Remove page. · Guidance – McKenzie Friends The Custody Minefield Book answers 288 questions related to family law, legal proceedings, helping children cope, and handling crisis situations. It can be purchased by clicking on the cover image, although stocks are now running low and I'm avoiding a reprint in favour of writing an up-to-date second edition. We understand the feelings of helplessness that so many parents and families experience when matters are to be decided in Court. Help is available and I recommend the support provided by the charities whose links are provided at the bottom of this page. Helping families cope with the legal system is only a part of our work. Legal reform is required to improve the outcomes for children and reduce the inconsistency that exists within the legal and social work professions. Simply, the high standards which do exist need to be available to every child. Every child matters. Read our response to the Government following their reply to our GRANDPARENTS RIGHTS PETITION. 53 Members of Parliament and 7 charities/organisations support our proposed changes to the law for grandparents. Please make use of the legal factsheets, the media watch service, links to legislation, campaign news, useful links, surveys and information concerning shared residence.
Media Enquiries Address media enquiries or requests for articles to: enquiries@thecustodyminefield.com
| Our Online Factsheets & Guides ***NEW*** Internal Relocation ***Revised*** Leave to Remove x ***NEW*** Private Foster Care ***NEW*** Enforcing Contact Orders ***NEW*** McKenzie Friend Guidance ***UPDATED*** Shared Residence ***UPDATED*** Flexible Working x The TCM Book Now Available as a Free PDF Email: enquiries@thecustodyminefield.com
'...this book should be made available to any parents who are separating - it could save them a lot of expense in legal fees.' Magistrates Magazine TCM and the Media In the last 12 months, TCM has fulfilled information requests from BBC Television Researchers, BBC Radio, Independent Production Companies, Broadsheet Media, and Research Bodies. TCM Website Our website now averages 30,000 unique visits a year, and currently over 3,000 visits a month TCM Lobbying TCM's legal reform proposals on Grandparents Rights in care and adoption proceedings were the subject of a Parliamentary Early Day Motion (EDM1199) in March 2008 TCM in the News The Times: 29 Best family law websites x The Independent: The Truth about Daddy Day Care x News and Star: The Custody Minefield x Sunday Sun: Bid to help grandparents Articles by Michael Robinson Court Cold: Grandparent Times Spring 2009 Liberal Conspiracy: Family Justice Crunch in 2009 x McKenzie Magazine: Looking in my crystal ball - the courts in 2009 (in February) x McKenzie Magazine: Forum Moderation x McKenzie Magazine: Ministry of Justice Complaints x McKenzie Magazine: Social Services Referral for an Asylum Seeking Minor (comedy)
Michael Robinson lives in Cumbria and writes articles, factsheets and self help books on topics related to family law, child welfare and psychology. I am happy to recommend and fully support the aims and objectives of the charities and organisations listed at the bottom of this page. x Beliefs A child's wellbeing and safety must always be the paramount consideration. x Parents and the extended family have a right to access to information about their legal rights. Our goal is to make that information accessible to all. x A child has the right to a full relationship with both parents and their extended family. x State institutions must be accountable for the actions of their staff. |
 | HELP FIND SAVANAH-JADE STEVE MOSELEY'S DAUGHTER WAS TAKEN TO AUSTRALIA FOLLOWING A LEAVE TO REMOVE APPLICATION BEING GRANTED BY THE UK COURTS SHE HAS SUBSEQUENTLY DISAPPEARED CLICK ON THE PHOTO OF SAVANAH TO FIND OUT HOW YOU CAN HELP AND FIND OUT MORE ON OUR LEAVE TO REMOVE PAGE |
*** TCM Announcement *** Phase 2 of the TCM Project and changes to the Website and TCM Book and plans for 2009 TCM BOOK As stocks of the TCM Book are running low and a second edition is being written, rather than reprint, I'll be making the old version available in a PDF Format. This will be available from 1st January 2009 if you email me. For publishers interested in publishing the second edition, please email me directly at enquiries@thecustodyminefield.com. The first version reached number 2 on the Amazon Divorce Chart and was widely endorsed by parenting magazines, the press, psychotherapists and the Magistrates Magazine. SURVEYS We have changed the survey pages, are working collaboratively with the charities to run surveys on specific subjects for research purposes and also linking to worthwhile research projects. FORUMS The forum section of this site will be removed. Since we opened our forums, people joining them have tended to email me directly for advice, and I will continue to assist those who contact me. For people wishing forum support and who wish to support others, I recommend you join Families Need Fathers, who run superb forums which are available to mothers and grandparents as well as fathers. The membership fee for Families Need Fathers is £30, and you will find it money well spent. You'll find me on those forums under the name 'Michael' and I act as a forum moderator for FNF. For mothers, please do not be put off by the name of the charity. Many women are members and the charity has a firm policy on supporting members irrespective of gender. You can join Families Need Fathers by clicking on this JOIN link. To access their forums, after having joined as a member of the charity, you will need to register at www.fnf.org.uk/forum/. Families Need Fathers is a reputable charity and is now represented on Family Justice Councils. In addition to the forums, they provide a telephone helpline, factsheets, local support meeting and a bi-monthly magazine ('The McKenzie'). NEW PAGES - PAPERS AND SPEECHES With so much change being discussed surrounding family law, there's a new page (still under construction) entitled PAPERS AND SPEECHES. This will provide links to publications including papers, reports, speeches and research by the judiciary, politicians, charities, CAFCASS, Social Services and other Government Departments where they are relevent to family law, social justice and parenting matters. NEW PAGES - CASE LAW Links to case law will be provided to assist Litigants in Person (those who represent themselves in court without the assistance or a solicitor/barrister) and McKenzie Friends (lay legal advisors). CAMPAIGNS GRANDPARENTS RIGHTS: There is good news on the campaign front, with the Conservatives having made commitments to include the importance of contact between grandparents, fathers and children in future policy decisions. My personal thanks and respect goes to Iain Duncan Smith MP, Tim Loughton MP and Stewart Jackson MP for their long standing commitment to this important issue. Also to John Hemming MP, who tabled a Parliamentary Early Day Motion in March 2008 (EDM1199) in support of the Grandparents' Rights Campaign , to the 53 MPs who signed EDM1199, and to the Grandparents' Association, Families Need Fathers, Jewish Unity for Multiple Parenting (JUMP), Mothers Apart from their Children (MATCH), Grandparents Apart, and the Grandparents Action Group for their support. Headline stories in the Daily Mail in January 2009 with commentary by Peter Harris of the Grandparents Association who has supported this campaign from the outset. We'll see what the rest of the year brings. LEAVE TO REMOVE: International Leave to Remove will continue to be a focus for 2009. My opinions on the current application of the law are detailed on the LEAVE TO REMOVE page. I have recently been assisting the charity REUNITE with research concerning the impact on children and contact of leave to remove being granted. I await the results of that research with great interest. If the court granted your ex-partner the right to remove your children to another country, please take part in Reunite's survey. Details are set out on our own SURVEYS page. Please also visit Steve Moseley's website and join the search to find his daughter. We'll be supplying Newsnight with information for their programme on the issues of parental child abduction and leave to remove. Expect some public debate on these issues in the year ahead. ENFORCING CONTACT ORDERS: We will be providing a guide/factsheet to explain the new powers available to the courts, and the process for applying to the court to enforce a contact order. PROJECT COMPLETED INTERNAL RELOCATION: There is precious little information and legal guidance on the internet to help parents when one parent seeks to move the children away from the other. We will be providing a legal factsheet, detailing and explaining all relevant case law and the court's current position on this subject. PROJECT COMPLETED A number of articles on Leave to Remove and Internal Relocation will be coming out in McKenzie Magazine this year, putting forward the child welfare arguments for a change in legal precedent. My thanks for Charles Kenyon, Chair of Families Need Fathers for his support with this, and to Nick Barnard, the McKenzie Magazine's editor. The first article is out in the June edition, which is also FNF's 35th Anniversary edition. PRESS ACCESS TO THE FAMILY COURTS: Starts from April. Our thanks to Camilla Cavendish of the Times for her sterling work on this. News updates via the broadsheet coverage in Media Watch. THE IMPACT OF COURT PROCEEDINGS ON MENTAL HEALTH: How does our adversarial legal system impact on parental wellbeing, and what affects does this have on their family. A new project for 2009. Research from Families Need Fathers and the Equal Parenting Alliance provides the first insight. 35% of respondents contemplating suicide, with a shocking 7% having attempted suicide. McKenzie Friend Guidance: Best Practice Guidance to assist new McKenzie Friends and also Litigants in Person in understanding what a McKenzie Friend (Lay Advisor) may and may not do. PROJECT COMPLETED |
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