NIC’S GRAN PLAN
SNP promise new legal access rights
Grandparents could be given new legal rights under SNP plans to reform the family law system.
About 10,000 couples in Scotland divorce each year.
And in 40 per cent of cases, one set of grandparents loses contact with their grandchildren afterwards.
They do not have automatic rights to see their grandchildren and must apply to the courts for access.
But the SNP’s Holyrood election manifesto will pledge to make contact easier for them after a break-up as part of a proposed review of family law.
An SNP spokesman said: “Too often it’s grandparents across Scotland who are losing out when it comes to questions of access and contact.
“With family structures changing so much, family law is in need of a review. The issue of grandparents’ rights will be a key part of that.
“It’s right that when I’ve had a clear view of the impact of Tory policies on young people south of the border.
“For the first time, 16 and 17-year-olds in Scotland will have the chance to choose our nation’s government – and can choose to use the new powers coming to the Scottish Parliament ambitiously and progressively.” families are hit by divorce, separation or other difficult circumstances, the rights of children and parents come first.
“But grandparents have a huge role to play in helping to look after and bring up children – and far too often they can find themselves shut out of their grandchildren’s lives through no fault of their own.
“We want to make sure that, as far as possible, grandparents’ rights are considered and that they can get the contact with their grandchildren that’s sometimes denied to them.”
June Loudoun, of support group Grandparents Apart UK, said: “We want grandparents to be a legal part of the family.
“Some social services have been known to say in some cases that we are ‘irrelevant persons’.
“All we want to be is relevant within the family and for children to have the right of contact with us.”