Care of Children Act 2004

What is the Care of Children Act 2004?

The Act deals with  parenting cases.

The key feature of the Act is  in looking at the welfare of the child in disputes. The Act states that :

“The welfare and best interest of the child must be the first and paramount consideration”

This means the rights of the parties are subject to the welfare of the child. Parents often say to me- what about my rights?  The answer is that their rights are always subject to the best interests of the child.

The terms “custody” and “access” have been replaced by “day-to-day care” and “contact”.  This has  partly been  done to avoid the winners and losers of those former terms.

The Family Court now make parenting orders which specify which parent (or other person) has the child/ren in their care at certain times.

If you are a parent of a child/ren and the existing care arrangements are not going well, then you are able to seek legal advice to assist you in formalising arrangements either by agreement or through a parenting order.

There may also be occasions where a new partner/ grandparents, wish to apply to be joined as an additional guardian and again I can assist with those applications.

Call Jeremy on 0800 486 267 or 09 263 6953  to help you.