Grandparents’ rights should be ‘enshrined’

● Currently around 40% of grandparents lose contact with their grandchildren

Politicians are backing a move to enshrine in law the right of grandparents to see their grandchildren after a divorce.

The Scottish Government is to start a consultation this month after MPS across the political spectrum backed an amendment to current laws which would refer to a youngster’s right to have a relationship with close members of their extended family.

Currently grandparents have no automatic legal rights to see their grandchildren when parents divorce.

The right of a grandparent to see their grandchildren after a divorce could become enshrined within law.

The Scottish Government is to start a consultation this month which may lead to the reviewing of the current Children (Scotland) Act 1995 legislation under which grandparents have no automatic legal rights to see their grandchildren when parents divorce.

Approximately 12,000 divorces are granted each year in Scotland.

This can lead to problems when the divorce was acrimonious, especially for the paternal grandparents if the children live with their mother.

Latest research shows in around 40 per cent of cases one set of grandparents lose contact with grandchildren.

In Scotland if mediation fails, grandparents can apply to the courts for contact orders.

The best interests of the child take priority and if a youngster is considered mature enough their views will be sought.

The move comes as MPS across the political spectrum have backed an amendment to the Children’s Act which would refer to a youngster’s right to have a relationship with close members of their extended family.

This would include aunts and uncles having access to their nephews and nieces.

The issue was debated in the House of Commons last week, with Conservative MP Nigel Huddleston saying he had heard stories of grandparents trying to send birthday cards or Christmas gifts to grandchildren and being visited by the police and accused of harassment.

John Lamont, Conservative MP for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk, speaking in the debate, cited one of his constituents who set up the Grandparents Rights campaign group.

“Issy Shillinglaw from Tweedbank, has been campaigning outside the Scottish Parliament for many years, every single week, for the law in Scotland to be changed.”

Speaking previously about her campaign, Mrs Shillinglaw, a pensioner from Tweedbank, near Galashiels in the Borders, who has written to the Queen about the problem, said: “This issue affects 36,000 grandparents across the country, so the powers that be cannot keep on ignoring the issue.

“A lack of contact not only hurts the grandparent, but it damages the child too.”

During the debate, David Linden, SNP MP for Glasgow East, said that his parents split up before his first birthday but that his mother took him to visit her mother-in-law

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: “We are reviewing current legislation covering the question of who a child should have contact with when the child’s parents have split up.

“We will shortly be issuing a consultation which will include discussion on grandchildren having contact with their grandparents. In all cases the welfare of the child is, and must remain, paramount.”