The advice given in this article is correct as of 3rd April 2020. The situation with Coronavirus is developing rapidly, so please do check our COVID-19 Insights Hub for the latest updates.
We are receiving numerous enquiries from concerned parents regarding the care of children during these unprecedented times, from those who are worried about breaking court orders or a previously followed arrangement, those who are concerned that the current warnings to self isolate are being used to flout the arrangements and those who wish to self isolate themselves.
As Ed Bidder explained in a previous article the Government and Family Court have helpfully issued guidance surrounding the arrangements for your child during this coronavirus period which includes the ability for children under the age of 18 to be moved between their parents home in this current stay at home period.
The safety and wellbeing of you and your children is key in the current circumstances and you should try where possible to communicate and agree on a sensible way forward together, including what is and is not appropriate during your time with the children.
Normality and routine are vital for children’s stability so try to adopt the same routine in each household and, if a court order is in place setting out the childcare pattern that should be followed wherever possible. If the handover has been taking place in a public place, consideration will need to be given how that can take place safely i.e. going from one car into another or one parent doing the collection and the other the return.
Where arrangements cannot be agreed between parents, the Court is dealing with hearings by telephone or video calls and applications can still be made for child arrangements or to enforce existing orders. However, at this current time, this should be seen very much as a last resort and parents are encouraged to try to resolve the issues themselves before going down that route.
From the telephone hearings that we have had so far, the Court’s approach to the coronavirus situation appears to be that they are trying to enable children to have a relationship with both parents, where possible. They are keeping to any previous routine where they can, even where a parent is self-isolating with their children. This is on the basis that the other parent continues the period of self-isolation and is aware of the risk to themselves of potentially contracting the Coronavirus, if their child is carrying it.
Top tips for isolation
Here are our top tips on how deal with isolation:
- encourage the children to keep in regular and frequent (daily if possible) contact with the other parent through telephone calls and video chats;
- send pictures to the other parent of the children and photographs of the activities they are getting up to, or a video;
- keep a record of the extra days that the children have been isolating with you in case there is potential for those days to be reciprocated with the other parent at some time in the future;
The main consideration, as is ever the case, is that you should act in the best interests of the children and try to work together at this difficult time.