ABSTRACT

The courts’ treatment of domestic abuse within private law child arrangements disputes has attracted significant concern for many years, most recently culminating in the call for major reform by the Ministry of Justice’s expert review into the courts’ practice. The Ministry of Justice has since committed to a follow-up review into the operation of the statutory presumption of parental involvement (Children Act 1989, section 1(2A)). This paper provides timely insight into the impact of this presumption in cases involving domestic abuse, presenting the findings from the first empirical study to explore its impact on the lower courts. Forty-one semi-structured interviews were conducted with judges, barristers, solicitors, Cafcass practitioners and representatives from domestic abuse organisations. It also explores perceptions of whether the statutory presumption ought to be reversed to introduce a presumption against contact in domestic abuse cases. It is argued that whilst the statutory presumption does not appear to be changing the courts’ practice, its harm lies in the reinforcement of a dominant narrative that children ‘need’ contact. Whilst a presumption against contact might not hold the answer to changing this narrative, there remains an urgent need to reappraise the approach taken to the resolution of cases involving domestic abuse.

摘要

多年来，法院在私法儿童安排纠纷中对家庭虐待的处理引起了广泛关注，最近一次是司法部要求对法院的做法进行专家审查，要求进行重大改革。此后，司法部承诺对父母参与的法定推定的运作情况进行后续审查（1989年《儿童法》，第1（2A）节）。本文提供了对这一推定在涉及家庭虐待案件中的影响的及时见解，并提出了第一项实证研究的结果，以探讨其对下级法院的影响。与法官，大律师，律师，咖啡师从业人员和来自家庭虐待组织的代表进行了41次半结构化访谈。它还探讨了对于是否应该推翻法定推定以引入针对家庭虐待案件中的接触者推定的看法。有人认为，虽然法定推定似乎并没有改变法院的惯例，但其危害在于加强了儿童“需要”接触的主导性叙述。尽管反对接触的推定可能无法改变这种说法，但仍然迫切需要重新评估解决家庭虐待案件所采用的方法。