Parent Contact with Unwell Children - What To Do...

The general advice is that unless the child is too ill to leave home, there is no reason why they should not spend time with their other parent. It is part of the parenting experience to have to deal with and manage a child who has a cold, sniffles and is feeling under the weather.

If a child is very ill then the situation is different. If they are too ill to leave home, then it might not be in the child’s best interests for them to go and spend time with the other parent.

That being said, consideration should be given to the arrangements for contact being varied or rearranged. There are no specific reasons why only one parent has to deal with a child’s serious illness.

If a child has a serious health condition, this itself can impact on the suitability of regular contact and the type of contact. As parents, the primary concern should be in the best interests of the child and both parents should work together to promote that and provide the necessary healthcare the child requires.

Before separation parents would usually deal with a child’s illnesses together. There are no obvious reasons why that should be different when they are apart.

From a legal perspective what to do can depend on whether or not there is a court order in place which specifies the arrangements for the child.

Existing Court Order

If there is an existing court order, there is an expectation that the court order should be complied with unless there are very good reasons as to why not.

Failure to comply with a court order could lead to an application for enforcement, and the onus will then be on the parent who failed to make the child available to provide a reasonable excuse to justify why the contact did not go ahead.

No Court Order

If contact arrangements have not been put into place by agreement, there is not the same level of necessity as with a court order, however if a parent feels that the contact is unjustly being cancelled this may be a trigger for matters to be considered by the court.

How Can Timms Help...

If you have any questions on this matter, or any other family law issues please do not hesitate to contact me on 01283 214231 or via email at l.watson@timms-law.com. Alternatively, you can visit the family law page of our website here.