Children and Adoption Bill [HL]

I should like to join both noble Baronesses in supporting these amendments, but to consider the possibility that we could somehow define the word ““reasonable”” a little more effectively. I was trying to do so as the noble Baroness was talking. It seems to me that ““reasonable contact”” could be, for example, defined as the kind and amount of contact which will benefit the child most in terms of all sorts of welfare, including its happiness, its experience of love and trust and so on, and its education both in the home and in school. By chance I happen to have information about a report by Charles Desforges, to which the Government often refer, on the relationship between parental involvement and the outcomes of education in school. His conclusions are that, among other things, parental involvement in the form of at-home good parenting has a significant, positive effect on a child’s achievement and adjustment, even after all other factors shaping attainment have been taken out of the equation. Do we know what is meant by ““at home”” parenting there? If the child is living at home, let us say with the mother, is that ““at home”” parenting, or is a really meaningful period of time spent with the father going to give to the child a separate and additional dimension which will help it in its education? Education is only one facet of the thing that we are talking about. Different children will benefit from different kinds of help and involvement and different kinds of contact, for example again with a father. If contact has to be limited, ideally it should be the kind of contact that will benefit the child most. These are the things which can be looked at. I do not know how much research there is on them, but it seems to me that that is the sort of spirit in which we should be approaching this word ““reasonable””. The parents are then to be taken into consideration, but we must remember that first and foremost we are talking about the welfare of the child. It is in the context of the welfare of the child that we should be looking at the word ““reasonable””. If we end up with a different word or with the need to define ““reasonable”” then let us do it. But I do think that with the proviso that these amendments are tremendously important and I support them.