Court of protection

When considering contact, the starting point always had to be that there should be full and unrestricted contact between a parent and his or her child and that conditions should only be imposed on that contact if the child’s best interests demanded it. Those conditions had to be reasonable and proportionate having regard to their aim and purpose and the context of the overall situation. When imposing conditions, the court had to have a number of considerations in mind, namely, inter alia, the need for an appropriate review of the conditions, the length to which conditions should address each step of the contact session and the ability of the home or contact supervisor to shorten or lengthen a visit.