Ms Ursula Regan:

Most professionals will seek the consent of both parents for a child to be taken in as a patient. This includes psychologists and family therapists, to whom a child might be referred for a variety of reasons though this context concerns domestic violence. My experience is also as a family law solicitor. I am in court on a regular basis. In my experience, refusing to consent to a child being seen by a therapist is a standard blocking tactic used by perpetrators of domestic violence. The only way around that is to bring a separate application before the court under the Child and Family Relations Act 2015 for the parent's consent to be dispensed with in the interests of the child's welfare so that this procedure can take place.