Continued support for shared parenting was demonstrated recently by the announcement that the Government intends to set up a £14million fund to provide practical help and support for parents going through acrimonious separations, with a view to increasing shared and collaborative parenting. The Department for Work and Pensions explained that the fund would be used to provide services encouraging parents to work together in raising their children following a separation, and would include a wide range of services, including advice, support, counselling and mediation. This new scheme is intended to work alongside proposed changes to the Family Justice System and child maintenance rules. As most people will be aware, there is no presumption of shared care post separation in English law, though in most cases, parents retain equal status in terms of decision making in regard to the child/children. The difficulty is however, that whatever their status in law, many find it hard to communicate on a practical level and this new initiative hopes to help bridge that gap.
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