Children Act 1989

Gap #593

The assumption

If the other parent reports a new allegation at a different police station, a magistrate can immediately overrule the family court's contact order.

The reality

Reporting an allegation to the police, at any station, does not change a child arrangements order. The order stays in force until the family court varies or discharges it on an application under the Children Act 1989. When contact stops after a new allegation, it is usually because one of these separate steps has been taken. Bail conditions. Where someone is arrested, bail can carry conditions, and those can restrict contact with a child. In Nottinghamshire County Council v The Mother (Police Bail) [2024] EWHC 666 (Fam), which was a care case, police bail conditions prevented unsupervised contact with any child and left no room for the family court to allow it. Mrs Justice Lieven said it is not for the family court to dictate bail conditions to the police, but that the family judge was much better placed than the police to assess the risk to the child, and that she hoped the police would consider the role of the family court when setting bail conditions. The judgment records that an application to vary police bail conditions can be made to the magistrates' court. A Domestic Abuse Protection Order. The police can apply for a DAPO by complaint to a magistrates' court (section 28 of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021). Practice Direction 36ZG notes that, under section 36(1), the requirements of a DAPO must so far as practicable avoid conflict with any other court order or injunction the person is subject to, as well as conflict with their religious beliefs and interference with their work or with their attendance at an educational establishment. An application to vary or discharge a DAPO goes to the court that made it. A new family court order. A parent can apply to the family court to vary the child arrangements order, or for a protective order such as a non-molestation order. The police do not pass a new allegation to the family court automatically. Under the Disclosure of Information between Family and Criminal Agencies and Jurisdictions: 2024 Protocol, which replaced the 2013 Protocol and the old Annex H order template, police material is requested using the protocol's own forms. In private law proceedings the request goes to the police on the Annex 1 form, accompanied by an order in the court's standard form at Annex 5. The protocol states that use of its annexed forms is mandatory, and Annex 2 is the guidance written for completing Annex 1 in private law proceedings. Requests are expected to be focused and proportionate rather than a blanket trawl, and the guidance contemplates a 20-day timescale for the police response. In practice the court usually directs this where a fact-finding hearing is contemplated; where no direction has been made, the litigant in person has to ask the court to make the order. The DAPO rules send information the other way: when a family court makes a DAPO, the court officer emails a copy to the police within one day (Practice Direction 36ZG, paragraph 20). This part of the law is in transition. DAPOs have run in pilot areas only since 27 November 2024. The pilot ends on 24 November 2026, and from 25 November 2026 DAPOs are due to be available across all court jurisdictions in England and Wales, with Practice Direction 36ZG amended rather than replaced. Check the current position before relying on this after that date. Each of these is changed in a different place, so it matters which one has actually been made. This is general information, not legal advice.

Gap #590

The assumption

If I move out of the family home, I lose my say in the children's lives, or an arrangement has to be formally agreed before I go.

The reality

Parental responsibility does not end because a parent moves out (see gaps 55 and 57). Without a child arrangements order, nothing automatically fixes where the children live or how time is shared once one parent leaves. Arrangements can be agreed informally, but an informal agreement is not binding (see gap 561). If the matter does reach court, the welfare checklist in section 1(3) of the Children Act 1989 includes the likely effect on the child of any change in circumstances. The pattern the children become used to, including time with each parent after the move, can form part of that picture. Money is separate. Child maintenance and any financial order are not decided by who moved out (see gap 519).

Gap #581

The assumption

If a parent is convicted of killing the other parent, the family court strips their parental responsibility quickly and the forms catch up later.

The reality

Jade's Law (section 18 of the Victims and Prisoners Act 2024) inserts new sections 10A and 10B into the Children Act 1989 and restricts parental responsibility where a parent has been convicted of killing the child's other parent. The commencement regulations (S.I. 2026/1126) were made on 22 October 2026 and bring section 18 into force on 18 December 2026 — that is the date the protection starts to operate, not the date the Act was passed. There is a transitional limit too: the change applies only to offences committed on or after 18 December 2026, and where an offence is found to have been committed over a period of two or more days, or at some time during such a period, it is treated as committed on the last of those days. So where the killing happened before that date, the new provision does not apply and the position is whatever the court can do under existing law. On the procedural side, Jade's Law sits at the top of the Family Procedure Rule Committee's priorities table (item 1, Tier 1, on the list since December 2022), and at the table published for the November 2026 meeting the Committee is still working on draft rule and practice direction amendments, with further updates promised. That means from 18 December the protection exists in law, but the court rules, forms and working process that make it run day to day may still be being finished. If this applies to your family, do not assume a court office will already have a form for it or that everyone in the building knows the route. Ask what the current local process is, in writing, and get advice before filing anything.

Gap #518

The assumption

The court starts from 50/50 shared care of the children.

The reality

There is no presumption of 50/50 care in the law of England and Wales. The child's welfare is the court's paramount consideration (s.1 Children Act 1989). The law does presume that involvement of both parents is usually good for a child, unless there is a risk of harm, but involvement does not mean equal time. The court looks at the welfare checklist, including the child's wishes and feelings, their needs, routine, age, the capability of each parent and the practicalities, and then decides what arrangement fits that child. Equal time is sometimes the outcome, but it is the result of the facts, not a starting rule.