Scottish government drops scheme to help divorced parents see kids

A programme which was intended to help parents who have been through a marital separation maintain contact with their children after divorce has been dropped by the Scottish government.

The pilot scheme was announced by ministers in December 2005 and was intended to help mothers and fathers who were no longer married to have visitation rights to their children and also to make sure that any court orders about access were enforced.

Hugh Henry, the then deputy justice minister, pledged to pilot family court facilitators as part of the Family Law Act 2006, who were intended to make sure access orders were not breached, and research into the problem was commissioned.

However, the plans have now been dropped amid claims from the Scottish government that it could not find a suitable candidate to run the scheme, the Herald newspaper reports.

Labour's justice spokeswoman, Pauline McNeil MSP, has written to justice secretary Kenny MacAskill in a bid to determine why the scheme will not go ahead.

She said: "Having fought so hard to get this commitment I am very disappointed that there is no action being taken. It is primarily about how this affects the children of those parents who cannot get their contact orders enforced.

"I would look to this government to re-establish a way of making the system better. I would expect them to start by reinstating this commitment."

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