At the beginning of April 2023, Cafcass launched a new arrangement for separating parents to get help during their separation. Previously we had the SPIP – Separated Parents Information Programme and now we have Planning Together for Children.
Planning Together for Children is for families in private law family court proceedings and can either be ordered by a court or referred by a Cafcass Family Court Adviser at any stage of proceedings as long as the right risk assessment is in place and there is no known risk of harm to any children involved.
It is a learning course for parents and there are three stages to Planning Together for Children:
- a set of self-directed e-learning modules that focus on topics such as what happens if parents go to court, understanding and managing emotion, and looking at things from a child’s point of view;
- a group workshop where parents will be encouraged to discuss, think about and extend their learning from the e-learning modules, covering topics such as understanding the impact of conflict on children and communicating in positive ways with each other; and
- a supplementary online parenting plan – to help parents to make agreements about important parts of their co-parenting relationship and the arrangements for their children, where this is safe for the children and adults. Parents will be encouraged to share an understandable version of the plan with their child/ren.
Parents do not attend the same group workshops as each other and the group sessions take place all over England and Wales.
What is the point of Planning Together for Children? The hope is that if parents undertake this course, they will be better able to communicate with each other and make arrangements for their children – and not going to court.
The government are looking at methods to divert parents and families from going to court as a first step. They are looking at encouraging couples to use non-court dispute resolution options to resolve their issues. The focus has been on mediation and whether that should be compulsory before using the court process. Quite aside from whether it should be compulsory, there are other options such as arbitration – which is binding on parties, unlike mediation – collaborative law, hybrid mediation, solicitor negotiation, Early Neutral Evaluation and private Financial Dispute Resolution hearings.
The point is there are often better ways to resolve disputes than going to court – but court does remain necessary in many cases. Having said that, certainly for financial cases, even where proceedings are issued, the majority settle during the course of the proceedings without needing a final hearing.
Of course, there are some cases where the court is needed but ‘see you in court’ should not be the common phrase. ‘See you in negotiations’? ‘Talk is cheap…. er than court’?
Do you need help in sorting out arrangements for your children? Contact us!