During these unprecedented times we find puzzles that typically we’d not expect to have to solve. Yet we are in the midst of a crisis that may mean the isolation of your children with their other parent and despite agreements and potentially Court Orders in place it may mean that you have to forego planned time with your children.
“there needs to be a degree
of flexibility exercised”
At times like these, there needs to be a degree of flexibility exercised, safe in the knowledge that although in the short term you may miss out of the agreed time with your children it is of course in the best interests of all parties and that any time lost may be able to be made up once the isolation ends.
We recommend that if isolation becomes a reality then you have dialogue with your children’s other parent and agree how things will work over the period of isolation. A complete omission of contact is not advised so the use of video calls and phone calls should be utilised in order to maintain a sensible degree of contact with your children, and them with you. It should be possible, for example, for the non-isolating parent to help with school work using FaceTime or similar, or even just regular chatting to keep everyone’s spirits up during this difficult time.
“it’s advisable to maintain a calm exterior
even if you are burning inside”
At the end of the day, for any of this to be dealt with in a sensible manner and with the children’s best interests at the heart of the matter, you need full co-operation from all parties and this may not always be possible. Some parents may use this as an opportunity to alienate the child against the other parent. Whilst this may fuel a fire and spark a reaction it’s advisable to maintain a calm exterior even if you are burning inside. If necessary an emergency court application can be made to ‘force’ the issue, or we can assist with mediation on this specific issue if both parents agree to attend (this can be done by using video conferencing facilities rather than face to face for obvious reasons).
If you are impacted and wanting some more advice then please do not hesitate to contact one of our Family Lawyers for a free, no obligation consultation.
Call our Wakefield office on 01924 290 029
Call our Garforth office on 0113 246 4423
Call our Ossett office on 01924 586 466
