Warning Notices and the Enforcement of Broken Contact Orders With the introduction of the Children and Adoption Act 2006 came new ways of handling matters where contact orders are not being complied with. Before you make an application to the Court to have a contact order enforced, you must first have had a warning notice attached to the contact order. The warning notice sets out clearly the potential penalties and enforcement measures that are available to the Court if the contact order is broken. Contact orders made after 8th December will automatically include a warning notice.. Will the Court agree to a warning notice being attached? Yes. Her Majesty's Court Services' guidance on the attachment of warning notices states that a Judge does not have discretion in this area. Technically, he/she must. x Be aware that in practice, we are experiencing Judges first choosing to consider whether the existing contact arrangements contained in the existing contact order are viable and whether they need amendment. If the contact order is varied, any new contact order would automatically have a warning notice attached. Be aware that the other party (normally the other parent) may choose to use your application to the court as an opportunity to seek the court's agreement to vary the existing order. What do I need to do to apply for a warning notice to be attached? Before applying, we recommend you attempt to resolve matters without involving the court. If this proves to be impossible, then you will need to: · complete form C78; · provide a copy of the existing contact order (if available); · take these to your local family court administration department. Will I have to pay a fee? In most cases, yes, unless: · You are in receipt of a specified means tested benefit; or · Your gross annual income does not exceed a specified limit; or · You would suffer undue financial hardship if you had to pay the court fee. Further information can be found within HM Court Service’s leaflet EX160A. How much is the fee? Details of court fees can be found on page 9 of the leaflet EX50 ‘County Court Fees’. Your local court office will give you more information, but be aware that court fees for applications are likely to increase in April 2009. We’ll keep you posted. Must a warning notice be attached to a contact order before I can apply to have the order enforced? Yes. Who can apply for a contact order to be enforced? · You can apply if the children live with you. · If you are the person named in the contact order as the person with whom contact should take place. · Any individual subject to a condition or contact activity condition imposed by the contact order. · The child named in the contact order. If you are the child, you will need to complete a form C2 asking the court’s permission to make an application. What must I do to apply to have a contact order enforced? · A warning notice must first have been applied for (unless your contact order was made after 8thDecember 2008); · You must be in a position to prove, beyond reasonable doubt, that the contact order was broken; · You should be satisfied that there was not a reasonable excuse for the contact order having been broken (e.g. the children were ill); · You must complete form C79 and hand this into the court administration department; · You will need to pay a fee, unless you qualify for an exemption (see above). If it is proven beyond reasonable doubt that the order was broken, and there was not a reasonable excuse to justify the breach, what can the court do? · If, as a result of contact being broken, you suffered financial loss, the court can order financial compensation from the party in breach. You cannot claim damages for emotional harm/stress etc, but only for actual financial loss. Examples would include travel costs having been unnecessarily incurred, the cost of a lost session at a contact centre, or your having had to cancel a holiday or arrange additional childcare. · The Court can order that the party in breach carries out community service work. This can be for a period between 40 and 200 hours. · The Court may order that CAFCASS (the Court Welfare Service) monitor and/or assist in contact taking place. This can be done through the Court making a Family Assistance Order which can run for up to 12 months. · The Court may order that the parties attempt mediation to try to resolve their difficulties. · The Court may order that one or both parties undertake counselling/therapy/anger management counselling or other activities which the Judge feels are appropriate and may be of assistance in the prevention or resolution of conflict and to facilitate contact in the future. Such orders will likely be dependent on there being available services locally. What else might happen? The potential exists that the Court could: · Change the terms of the Contact Order if the current arrangements are found not to be in the children’s best interests and/or are impractical/unworkable. · In exceptional circumstances, the Court could reverse residence in favour of the current non-resident parent or commit to prison the person in breach. Court Forms and Guidance Application form to attach a warning notice - C78 Application to enforce a contact order - C79 Official Guidance from Her Majesty's Court Service - CB5 Applicable Legislation The Children and Adoption Act 2006 Articles of Interest 05/02/09 Law Society Gazette 'Promoting and Enforcing Contact' by Gillian Rivers Did you know that... According to research undertaken by the Children's Society, based upon the experiences of 30,000 children and published in February 2009, children are 40% more likely to suffer mental health problems when separated from their father. According to Dr Daniel Nettle of Newcastle University, at age 11, children of highly involved fathers have markedly higher IQs than children of less present dads. In research carried out by Dr Eirini Flouri and Dr Ann Buchanan of Oxford University for the Economic and Social Research Council, it was concluded that good father-child relationships are associated with an absence of emotional and behavioural difficulties in adolescence and greater academic motivation. Other research by Dr Flouri and Dr Buchanan, published in the Journal of Adolescence concluded that father involvement at age 7 protected against psychological maladjustment in adolescents from non-intact families, and father involvement at age 16 protected against adult psychological distress in women. According to a report by the Department for Education and Skills in 2003, Father involvement in children’s education at age 7 predicts higher educational attainment by age 20, in both boys and girls. It is estimated that between 25% and 40% of fathers lose contact with their children after two years of separation from their ex-partners. Let us hope that the courts choose to use these measures to protect child welfare. A list of the above research reports and authorities and links to them is available on our Shared Residence Factsheet page.