Judges’ power to stop you seeing loved ones

TWO legal options are available to grandparents who want to secure a place in their grandchildren’s lives.

One is the ‘child arrangements order’ introduced in 2014. This can rule that a child should live with his or her grandparents, or set up arrangements for regular time spent together.

Pressure groups criticise the system because a grandparent must attend a mediation meeting and then ask a court for permission to apply for an order before one can be granted.

A judge will consider the motives of the grandparents, including whether their real interest is in helping one parent obtain a better divorce settlement, and their suitability for contact with a child.

A more comprehensive court order is a ‘special guardianship order’, which stipulates that a child will live with the grandparents in the long-term. Unlike a child arrangements order, it gives grandparents rights to take longterm decisions, such as what school a child should go to.

But parents keep legal responsibility for the child and will maintain links with him or her.

Grandparents usually find themselves separated from their grandchildren because the parents divorce or split up. But it can also happen if inadequate or violent parents lose their children into state care and the youngsters are then adopted by new parents.

The pain for grandparents can be worse than in the past because over recent years many spend long hours caring for grandchildren while mothers go out to work – a development that means deep relationships with grandparents are likely to be more common.