January Blues – Managing Child Contact Arrangements Over Christmas

The festive period can be a very difficult time for parents who have separated when it comes to child contact arrangements. It can be extremely stressful given the expectations parents have for contact with their children over Christmas, and whether those expectations become a reality may result in child contact disputes.

There will be many parents coming into the new year disappointed with the contact, or lack of contact, they had with their children over the Christmas period.

What are your options for managing child contact arrangements?

There are a few available routes to consider when managing child contact arrangements.

1. Early discussions between both parents

Understandably both parents will want to spend time with their children over Christmas, so it is important to make the arrangements as fair and reasonable as possible. There is no “one-size-fits-all” pattern for contact over Christmas. 

Open-up communication with the other parent and see if a compromise can be reached early on. You should also consider the other major holidays and make arrangements for these. Try and keep the conversation as amicable as possible.

It is helpful to have clarity and certainty when making contact arrangements. Some important things to think about include:

• Commitments that the children already have;
• Annual leave/work commitments of each parent;
• Handovers;
• If you already have a contact arrangement in place, decide whether this will continue over the festive period or whether you need to make any changes

2. Mediation

Mediation can be a good way to resolve any issues of contention around contact arrangements. It can be helpful to introduce a third party into the discussion to provide an outsider’s perspective and consider whether the proposed arrangements are reasonable and, most importantly, in the child’s best interests.

We have very good relationships with local meditators who we can happily put you in contact with.

3. Court proceedings

If you were unable to reach a contact agreement, then you may need to apply to the court for child arrangements order to ensure that fair arrangements are in place for next Christmas (and on an ongoing basis, generally). As part of the typical child contact arrangements, the court will always consider arrangements during school holidays and for special occasions.

The court does have the power to make any order including no order, if it is felt that this would be in the child’s best interest.

Before the court can make any decision with regards to your children, they will need to review a safeguarding report which will be carried out by Cafcass. This will highlight to the court whether there are any welfare concerns which would warrant further investigation before the court makes any final order(s).

What happens if there is already a Child Arrangements Order in place?

If there is already a child arrangement order in place which stipulates the contact arrangements over the Christmas period, but these arrangements were not adhered to, you could make an application to court to enforce the order. The onus is on the other parent to prove beyond reasonable doubt that there was a reasonable excuse for breaching the order.

Varying a Child Arrangements Order

If the circumstances have changed and the court ordered contact arrangements are no longer practical, you have the option of applying to court to vary the child arrangements order. However, it is worth discussing your concerns with the other parent first to see if an agreement can be reached outside of the court arena.