How will my contact with my children be facilitated during COVID 19?

The current “lock down” and social distancing requirements imposed by the Government on 23^rd March 2020 only allow people to leave their homes for a number of reasons including shopping for basic necessities, one form of exercise a day, medical needs /to care for a vulnerable person and travelling to and from work but only if necessary. All forms of everyday life are affected and this includes attendance at a contact centre for contact with your child or contact with your child if they are living with another family member in a different household.

There have been guidelines issued by the President of the Family Court in relation to the facilitating of contact between parents where there is a Child Arrangements Order in place, which can be found here. In relation to contact if your child is subject to interim or long term orders and are currently in foster care or placed in kinship family placements, your contact may currently be on hold or being facilitated by other means.

If you ordinarily have your contact with your child at the contact centre or in the community, in light of social distancing guidelines this cannot be facilitated due to the risk posed to the child, parents and those facilitating contact. It is possible that even those not presenting with COVID-19 symptoms can be carrying the virus and this could be transmitted to others and their households via face-to-face contact. Those who are considered high risk and those with high-risk family members may decide to self-isolate for the Government recommended 12 week period and current guidelines advise that there should be no contact between other people apart from those within your household.

Contact is now being facilitated by digital means via video calls and phone calls using Skype, Facetime and other digital resources. It is likely that the ordinary contact workers or the child’s social worker will be facilitating this video / phone contact to ensure that the child is safeguarded throughout their contact and the contact remains supervised. Due to the nature of the video calls, it is likely the duration of your contact will be reduced. The social worker will be completing their ordinary statutory visits within statutory timescales to ensure that your child’s welfare needs are being met and during this time, you will be able to request updates from your social worker about your child and their health. It is sometimes possible to request updating photographs of your child from the social worker.

The Local Authority are aware that parents and children are likely to be disappointed about their contact during this time and are trying to reach agreements with all parents on how to facilitate this moving forward. Due to these unprecedented times and measures that are being implemented by the Government, there are limited alternative arrangements that can be put into place at this time but your social worker will discuss your options with you directly. You are encouraged to engage in this process, however, if you are unhappy with the outcome of these discussions then the Local Authority complaint’s procedure will operate via their normal processes.

If you have Local Authority involvement with your children at Child Protection level ranging through to Care Proceedings in the Family Court then Johnson Astills can assist you. We have experience in assisting parents at all stages of Local Authority involvement. Please contact Johnson Astills at either our Leicester Office on 0116 255 4855 or our Loughborough Office on 01509 610 312 and ask for a member of the Care Team so that we can advise you accordingly. Alternatively, please visit either of the above offices or email us on careteam@johnsonastills.com and a member of our team will be happy to assist you.