Ms Karen Kiernan:

I want to comment on the question about access. This is a significant topic. There are people who do not take up access and there are parents who do not facilitate it. We are aware, through our services and through working with mums and dads and separated families, that there are often high levels of fear and concern about the child. This is exacerbated through conflicts in the family courts and the inability of courts to have accurate information in the form of assessments in a timely, affordable or accessible way. That is a whole other issue.

It is very complicated. We know there is a huge gap in practice and understanding of where child protection systems interact with private family law cases and criminal cases, and there can be all three going on in one family and affecting a child, and there is no satisfactory system or any system to bring those together. That is a major issue that we are hoping will be addressed in the family justice strategy, or at least pointed to in that strategy. The courts do not have all of the information they need because people are either representing themselves or they might be privately represented, and there can be inherent power imbalances, with people walking in while in coercive control situations. There are many reasons why access may not or should not happen. We also know of children being into unsafe or inappropriate contact by means of court orders because, for whatever reason, the courts may not have all of the information available to them. There are massive problems.