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Sort a summer holiday parenting plan now!
Start looking ahead to the school summer holiday now!
And make suitable parenting plans well in advance, in May or June. That’s the recommendation made by National Family Mediation CEO, Jane Robey.
In the latest of her regular articles for Family Law, she explains why.
Her article outlines how a Parenting Plan works, and how flexible it can be. That’s important because as children grow up their needs change. Therefore, her advice to separated parents is to take some time right now. That way they can head off last-minute summer panic.
A number of factors force separated couples into crisis during the summer, including
- changes in established daily routines, and
- the expense of keeping family members entertained.
Pick-up, drop-offs and living arrangements can be exposed as inadequate in the long holiday period. Frustrations and resentments resurface, with children caught in the middle.
A Parenting Plan, agreed by both parents and with flexibility built in, is easier to achieve than many people think.
It’s an agreement made by separated parents, covering how the children will be supported and cared for after separation or divorce. It’s easier to agree a Plan between the two of you than many people think. Its value is that you both tailor it to suit your own circumstances.
Start summer holiday parenting arrangements now
Easter holiday parenting arrangements were a struggle as a separated parent. So think ahead now to the summer…
Staff at a national family charity are urging separated parents to act NOW to head off summer nightmares, by organising a Parenting Plan for the long school break.
The Easter school holiday raised tensions between many separated couples. With more Bank Holidays ahead, National Family Mediation says parents should start thinking ahead to the summer, and make suitable plans for their children in advance.
Making a Parenting Plan
“Arguments and differences between separated parents often reach breaking point during school holidays,” says Jane Robey, the charity’s CEO. “Families find parenting arrangements that worked well before have become outdated because the children are growing up, and the circumstances of their own lives have changed.
“Get ahead well before the schools break up in July and start thinking about parenting arrangements now. There’s still time to influence what too easily becomes a six-week nightmare.”
She said a number of factors force separated couples into crisis during the summer, including
- changes in established daily routines, and
- the expense of keeping family members entertained.
“Pick-up, drop-offs and living arrangements can be exposed as inadequate in the long holiday period. Frustrations and resentments resurface, with children caught in the middle.
“A Parenting Plan, agreed by both parents and with flexibility built in, is easier to achieve than many people think.
“It’s an agreement made by separated parents, covering how the children will be supported and cared for after separation or divorce. It’s easier to agree a Plan between the two of you than many people think. Its value is that you both tailor it to suit your own circumstances.
Adapting the Parenting Plan
“As the child grows up and parents’ jobs and relationships change, the Parenting Plan can be updated. The children’s needs change too as they grow up.”
National Family Mediation works right across England and Wales, and its experienced, expert family dispute specialists can help parents agree a Parenting Plan.
To find out more contact National Family Mediation on 0300 4000 636 or book an appointment using this online form
Reducing the multi-billion pound bill for badly managed divorce
Legislative delays to ‘no fault divorce’ caused by Brexit must not stop tens of thousands of couples who want to divorce being able to get on with it. It should be relatively painless now that Ministers have set out plans to change the law.
So says National Family Mediation CEO, Jane Robey, in a new article for Family Law.
The vital law change can also signal “a start of reducing the current estimated £50 billion cost to the public purse of poorly managed relationship breakdown. Let us hope they get on with it, and fast,” she added.
You can read the article in full using this link.
UK’s EU divorce must not delay ‘no fault’ law
Arguments about the process underpinning the UK’s ‘divorce’ from the European Union must not be allowed to delay new ‘no fault divorce’ laws that would make it easier for couples to divorce. So says the largest provider of post-divorce solutions on parenting, money and property.
National Family Mediation fears the changes could become another victim of Brexit, while Parliamentarians struggle to agree terms of the UK’s ‘divorce’ from the EU.
Ministers have announced plans to legislate to introduce ‘no fault’ divorce, yet The Ministry of Justice has confirmed it will only happen “as soon as Parliamentary time allows”.
No fault divorce
National Family Mediation CEO, Jane Robey, says: “Plans to introduce ‘no fault’ divorce are very welcome, and long overdue. But our fear is they will become still more overdue as a result of the Parliamentary timetable being log-jammed, ironically by the UK’s own divorce – from the EU.
“Brexit delays must not be allowed to stop tens of thousands of couples who want to divorce being able to get on with it relatively painlessly, now that Ministers have set out plans to change the law.
“The current legal need to prove a spouse’s ‘unreasonable behaviour’ fuels bad feeling between a couple. Our experience is that couples who, for whatever reason, have decided to separate just want to get on with it and make a fresh start. Yet current laws where someone has to tick a box to show ‘fault’ mean cases that should be relatively simple instead escalate to full-blown courtroom battles, which help nobody – least of all the children involved.
“For each and every adult involved, the stress, time and expense involved is staggering, and this vital change should help many more parents settle their divorce or separation in a more mature and adult fashion than the current system allows.”
Family Law Award charity partner announced
National Family Mediation is delighted to confirm it has been selected by LexisNexis as the charity partner for the Family Law Awards 2019.
Chief Executive, Jane Robey, said: “In recent years the Family Law Awards have become highly prestigious celebrating, as they do, the success and achievements of family lawyers and the vital contribution that they make to society.
“It is an honour for NFM to have been asked to be event partner charity for 2019.”
This year’s event takes place on Wednesday 27 November in central London. Entries for the awards are open until midnight on Friday 7 June.
You can view the categories and submit your entry on the Family Law Awards 2019 website
Quick and simple guides to family mediation
You can now download some quick and simple guides to how family mediation can help you.
And, using the form at the foot of this page, you can order free hard copies by post.
Use these links to download the guides (each is a two page A4 PDF file):
Mediation Information and Assessment Meetings (MIAMs)
Grandchildren need grandparents
Domestic violence and family mediation
To download Welsh language versions of these leaflets, use this link
You can order hard copies of these leaflets by post – simply complete the form below:
Preventing grandparents becoming forgotten victims of divorce
Grandparents play an important part in the lives of their grandchildren, and it’s usually a positive thing if they can stay in touch with them after a separation or divorce.
In a new article for Family Law, NFM’s Chief Executive Jane Robey outlines the importance of ensuring grandparents don’t become the unwitting or forgotten victims of divorce.
Recruiting mediators to work across Gloucestershire
National Family Mediation is looking to recruit FMCA-accredited mediators to help meet increasing demand in Gloucester, Cheltenham, Stroud and across Gloucestershire and the Cotswolds.
If you are interested in joining NFM’s expanding team, please get in touch by email in the first instance to general@nfm.org.uk
New structured mediation placement scheme
South East London Family Mediation Bureau’s new placement scheme offers opportunities to ‘lead mediate’ (to take the substantial lead in a co-mediation).
This can now be offered to trainees once they have passed initial vetting, completed a minimum number of observations and co-mediations, and have been assessed by a Bureau PPC as ‘ready to mediate.’
This new structured placement is in response to demand from family mediation trainees.