Children and Adoption Bill [HL]

moved Amendment No. 56: "Page 4, line 6, after ““condition)”” insert ““and about the child in relation to whom the court is considering provisions about contact””" The noble Baroness said: We must keep reminding ourselves that this Bill is about children, even though elements of it are about the mechanics of procedure that affect adults. We must therefore keep in mind that the court should be informed of the child’s wishes and feelings at every stage in contact proceedings, including the enforcement of contact where that becomes necessary. That is particularly so when contact arrangements are monitored, reports prepared and courts considering whether or not to enforce contact. That is vital in cases involving domestic violence or child abuse where one parent sometimes refuses to comply with contact arrangements specifically because their child is terrified at having to spend time with a violent, non-resident parent. The child’s wishes and feelings are an important source of information in trying to establish the cause of non-compliance. The amendment is intended to enshrine in the Bill the need to consider the child’s wishes and feelings at every appropriate point. That is necessary because very few children in private law family proceedings have separate representation, and there is still no date for the implementation of Section 122 of the Adoption and Children Act 2002, which would require the court to consider whether the child needs separate representation. Perhaps, in replying, the Minister could tell us when these important provisions will be implemented. In 2003, a survey of 178 refuge organisations in England and Wales found that only 6 per cent of them thought that children were listened to and taken seriously if they said that they did not want contact with a violent parent. Perhaps we all think that we know better than the child. My contention is that we do not. We should listen to the child. Likewise, the recent joint chief inspectors’ report on safeguarding children mentioned that, within CAFCASS, children had little or no say in formal arrangements of matters such as contact. The report again found evidence that children wished to be more involved. They had very strong views about everything to do with contact and we should listen to them. We will, of course, be debating this matter at greater length tomorrow in the important debate of the noble Earl, Lord Listowel, about the joint chief inspectors’ report. It is time that the voice of the child was put into the Bill in every possible place. We felt, in looking at the Bill, that there were some places where it should, but does not, appear. That is why we have put down this group of four amendments. I beg to move.