(UK) Divorced fathers to get more access to their children in custody law shakeup
Fathers will get improved access to their children following divorce, amid plans to rewrite the law governing custody disputes.
A ministerial working group will decide how to amend the Children's Act 1989 and might include in it a "presumption of shared parenting". The changes are part of an overhaul in family law that is described by the Law Society as "the most important" in more than 20 years.
Currently, family courts decide to leave children with their mothers in the vast majority of divorce cases, meaning that one in three children – around 3.8 million – is living with their father absent from their lives. Just 8% of single parents in Britain are fathers living with their children, according to the Office for National Statistics.
The plan, to be published on Monday, will overturn the main finding of an independent official review into family justice conducted by economist David Norgrove, which reported in November. He concluded that it would be too onerous for judges to ensure greater equality of access.
full: http://www.guardian.co.uk/law/2012/feb/03/divorced-fathers-children-custody-access