Supervised access visits : are the rights of the child the paramount consideration in the determination of S.A.V.s?

Abstract

The underlying thesis for this work came about from observation from my line of work of a lack of consistency in how decisions are made when it comes to determining if there should be contact between a parent and a child under supervision and if in the affirmative, the modality thereof. The undersigned looked at judgements delivered in a sample of time to observe the considerations made by the Family Court in reaching decisions relating to contact and the undersigned examined thoroughly how the views and wishes of the child involved in such proceedings was heard and how much weight it was given by the decision-making authority. This author feels that it is a great shame that it was not possible for the undersigned to carry out the same exercise for decisions taking by the Minors Care Review Board which determined whether children protected by a care order are to see their biological family under supervision or not and how. The undersigned has also looked at other modalities of contact that are established practices in other legislations and has proposed for system that works in child protection to be adopted also by the Family Court such that the same Courts takes a much more proactive role in protecting the best interests of children rather than depend on the information brought to its attention by the parties.