Why Can’t They Agree? The Underlying Complexity of Contact and Residence Disputes

The Children Act 1989 gave priority to the welfare of children when family courts make orders for residence and contact. As a consequence, other issues came to be viewed as less significant. In this article, we examine the court records of three County Courts to determine to what extent the disputes that parents bring to court are actually about children (seen as legitimate concerns) as opposed to other matters (seen as illegitimate concerns). Our findings indicate that underpinning legitimate concerns over children are a multitude of other ‘illegitimate’ issues such as quantum of child support and unresolved anger between the parents that remain central to parents’ concerns. We conclude that, although a return to adjudicating ‘blame’ and ‘guilt’ would be a regressive step, it might be sensible to try to find a way of acknowledging these arguments as this may aid resolving conflicts between parents to the benefit of their children.