Michael Robinson of The Custody Minefield & Relocation Campaign has for me produced another excellent article in Family Law Week this week regarding the slow but now moving process of reform in relocation cases.
It’s hard hitting and well argued as usual with Michael and what’s more important, it rings true in my experience of many relocation cases where a parent wants to remove a child/children abroad and large distances within the England & Wales jurisdiction.
This excerpt sadly rings particularly true:
“I presented findings from 15 expert and wide ranging studies which unequivocally show emotional, psychological and developmental disadvantage to children when their relationship with one parent is materially diminished. I have received some criticism from certain quarters, as these studies do not specifically refer to child relocation cases. That criticism is easily rebutted by a simple analogy: ‘If it is proven that a child suffers harm when beaten with a wooden stick, is further evidence required to prove that a child suffers harm when beaten with a metal rod?’ The diminishing of relationships with a parent places a child at risk of harm, and there is no leap of logic required to understand that relocation comes at the severe end of the spectrum, especially when compounded by a change in schools, loss of peer relationships, and removal from a familiar culture and environment and often wider family.”
I recommend reading the rest of the article at Family Law Week.
