MPs Call for Grandparents to be Given More Rights to see Grandchildren

09/05/2018

Grandparents should have greater rights to contact with the grandchildren after divorce, according to MPs.

Politicians from across the parties are calling for an amendment to the Children Act so that it includes a child’s right to have a close relationship with their extended family, which would also include the rights of aunts and uncles to have contactwith nieces and nephews.

At the moment, relatives who want time with a child must make a request to court to obtain permission to make an application. Once permission has been given, they can make an application to the court for a child arrangement order (CAO).

A COA allows the court to define the time that a child can spend with their relative. Such orders are always made with the best interest of the child being the paramount consideration.

Ministers discussed the issue last week, which highlighted the plight of many grandparents who find themselves shut out of the lives of their grandchildren after the parents divorced. Describing his constituents’ experiences, Conservative MP Nigel Huddleston said: "When access to grandchildren is blocked, some grandparents call it a kind of living bereavement."

The Ministry of Justice has said it would consider the proposal, Children's minister Nadhim Zahawi stated that while the government would consider any proposals that could improve the system, the guiding principle "has to be the wellbeing of the child".

The rights of grandparents having access to their grandchildren was last examined in 2011 as part of the independent Family Justice Review. The report recommended that CAOs stay in place to "prevent hopeless or vexatious applications that are not in the interests of the child".