Survey: UK divorce system failing children

OVER TWO-THIRDS (68 per cent) of parents in the UK admit to indiscriminately using their children as ‘bargaining tools’ in divorce proceedings, a law firm's research has found.

Approximately one fifth of separated parents said they had also purposefully set out to make their estranged partner’s divorce experience as difficult as possible – in the knowledge that this could prove painful for their children.

Top-100 UK law firm Mischon de Reya carried out a poll of some 4,000 parents and children with experience of the divorce process to mark 20 years since the The Children Act, and concluded that the current legal system is “not working”.

In addition to the detrimental social impact, the report's authors argued that the high cost of pursuing litigation through the courts should be considered. Mischon’s head of family law, Sandra Davis, said that national family therapy centres should be established as a priority.

“The millions of pounds spent each year on legal aid, running the courts and the Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service (CAFCASS) could be better spent educating parents about their children’s needs and gaining an understanding of how to resolve and avoid long-term disputes and reduce hostility,” she added.

“Litigation should be the last, not the first, resort for the resolution of parental disagreements. Children – alongside the economy – are suffering because of this.”

Statistics from the Legal Services Commission (LSC) show that legal-aid funding available to separating parents to resolve childcare costs amounts to approximately £151m a year. This is approximately 56 times the amount that CAFCASS is committed to cutting its budget by within two years, Mischon said.

The research also found that ten per cent of children caught up in divorce had “turned to crime”, with a third admitting alcohol or drug abuse. Almost a quarter (24 per cent) said they had been asked
by one parent to lie to the other, while nearly half (49 per cent) of parents said they had decided to protract the legal process to obtain the most financially attractive outcome for them personally.

“Parents are often using their children as emotional footballs,” Davis concluded. “They don’t have the tools to co-parent effectively following separation and their only solution is to turn to the courts.”