Writing in NLJ this week, Sarah Bunn, senior associate at Burgess Mee, examines the findings of the Domestic Abuse Commissioner’s ‘Everyday Business’ report, which describes a persistent ‘pro-contact culture’ in the family justice system.
Survivors interviewed for the report said abuse was frequently treated as irrelevant to child arrangements unless children directly witnessed it, while allegations were often discouraged because pursuing them could appear ‘unwillingness to be amicable’. Bunn notes that coercive and controlling behaviour may be reduced to a handful of ‘historic’ incidents carrying little weight in welfare decisions.
Although former Family Division president Sir Andrew McFarlane rejected any notion of ‘contact at all costs’, Bunn argues the gulf between legislative reform and survivors’ lived experiences remains striking. A House of Lords inquiry into the Act’s effectiveness is now under way.
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