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. Please make use of our factsheets on leave to remove, internal relocation, shared residence, parental responsibility, enforcing contact orders, CAFCASS, judicial misconduct, special guardianship, step-parents and parental responsibility, flexible working, private foster care, and our McKenzie Friend Guidance. Our next factsheet will be on disabilities and the family courts.

On Thursday 21st January 2010, the Government committed to remove the requirement on grandparents that they seek permission from a court before applying for contact with their grandchildren. Information and support was assured for grandparents who wish to keep a relationship with their children, and greater support and information for kinship carers. This followed a campaign that The Custody Minefield was heavily involved in. In March 2008, an Early Day Motion (EDM1199) was tabled in Parliament in support of a report we published on this very issue, which 6 other charities and organisations joined us in a combined campaign. The Conservatives committed to improve family law on this point in 2009.

A step forwards, but family law remains flawed, and further campaigns are in progress, and planned. Labour's and the Conservative's commitments to review family law is welcome, and we will be responding to the green paper.

Our newest campaign, supported by Sir Bob Geldof, is to improve outcomes for children in relocation and leave to remove cases. Please take time to download and read our campaign report, and ask your MP to sign Early Day Motion 373. We've made this easy for you. Click here, fill in a couple of boxes, and hit send. It only takes a few seconds of your time.

On 7th December in the Telegraph, when our campaign officially launched, the Ministry of Justice rushed out a statement claiming that the courts decide relocation cases on an individual basis, and that a child's welfare IS the courts' paramount consideration in relocation cases. It appears the courts are so secretive that the Minister is unaware of the legal precedents which the judiciary follow. The MoJ statement was a poor attempt at avoiding the real and systemic problems in our courts, and the spokesman fails to admit that their statement is not supported by the opinions of many in the legal profession, politicians, other Commonwealth courts, psychological experts and most recently in July, research findings in a report funded by the MoJ itself. Ministerial openness and transparency? If the outcomes were not so tragic and damaging, it would be laughable. The evidence is before you... you be the judge, read our report.

On 25th December, we received by email a copy of the reply to our campaign letter by Sir Mark Potter, President of the Family Division of the Courts of England and Wales, confirming the judiciary's unwillingness to consider any of the criticism raised by ourselves, charities, MPs, Commonwealth Courts of Appeal, independent think tanks, academics, psychiatrists or even those contained within the Ministry of Justice's own 2009 funded research findings. Read our letter, his reply, and our comments on his reply here.

·       Leave to Remove News

      19th January 2010 - Henry Bellingham MP, Shadow Justice Minister agrees that the importance of Payne v Payne must be reconsidered.

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      23rd December - We received a copy of a letter from Sir Mark Potter replying to matters concerning the relocation campaign, Payne v Payne and recent research which challenges the assumptions on which it is based and also our campaign report. Visit 'A Reply from the Courts' on our campaign site to read our concerns.

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      7th/8th/9th December - Extensive media coverage in The Telegraph, The Mail Online, Family Law Week, Family Law Newswatch and Community Newswire. Visit www.relocationcampaign.co.uk for links to these and other articles.

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      7th December 2009 - Early Day Motion 373 is tabled in Parliament in support of our Relocation Campaign.

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      7th December 2009 - Our Research Report is released, including Sir Bob Geldof's foreword.

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      7th December 2009 - 'Relocation: Real Stories, Real People, Real Pain'. Read about how child relocation affects the parent left behind.

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      7th December 2009 - A new factsheet is available from The Custody Minefield on leave to remove. Including hyperlinks to case law, court forms and research, the most comprehensive source of information yet.

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      October 09 - David Maclean MP tables Early Day Motion 2059 calling for legislative change in support of The Children's Needs and Rights Campaign and citing the Reunite Report.

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      October 09 - The Custody Minefield launces the www.relocationcampaign.co.uk website.

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      September 09 - The charity Families Need Fathers, and organisations JUMP and the Find Savanna-Jade Campaign Group agree to support the Relocation: Child Welfare, Needs and Rights Campaign.

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      July 09 - A Ministry of Justice funded report by the charity REUNITE is heavily critical of the courts and current legal precedent in relocation and leave to remove cases. The reports find that 'Currently the resident parent has disproportionate ‘rights’ in this area, with their plans to move away being in reality the primary consideration. Instead, there must be much greater consideration given to the wider implications for the child of a geographical relocation, and more than the simple alternative choice of with which parent to live.' Download REUNITE's report here.

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      July 09 - A report by The Centre for Social Justice questions leave to remove and relocation related legal precedent. To read the report in full from the Centre for Social Justice, click here.

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      December 08 - The Custody Minefield becomes the most visited website on the internet on matters related to shared residence, internal relocation and leave to remove related family law.

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·      Parental Responsibility - A new factsheet which all parents should read.

·      Enforcing Contact Orders - Updated following the introduction of new court powers, and having had the opportunity to now see how those powers are used in practice. Further updates will follow.

·      Shared Residence - Updated to include eight leading research authoritities supporting the welfare need for both parents to be involved in education, their child's development and day-to-day care.

·      CAFCASS - New guidance by the President of the Family Court on timetables for CAFCASS reporting and a complete revision of our factsheet. Further updates to follow setting out CAFCASS's statutory obligations regarding complaints.

·      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.

·      Guidance – McKenzie Friends

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