UK - New punishment powers for breaking contact orders

Angry Maggie - Angry Maggie Simpson - maybe as a result of poor parenting?
December 16, 2008 11:57am CST
The new powers became available last week for breaches of contact orders. These will mostly apply to mothers since 91% of the time it is the mother who has 'custody' of the children and it is the father that has to make the application for contact. When mothers are implacably hostile to contact between the children and their father, the courts have been extremely reluctant in the past to penalise the mother. These new powers - community sentences at the time of the agreed contact, financial penalties for compensating the father for travel costs and curfew orders. - do you think they will make any difference?The existing powers to imprison mothers are rarely used. What do you think should be done to mothers to force them to obey contact orders?Do they not realise the damage they are doing to their children by denying the children contact with their fathers?It is an absolute tragedy that the courts and judges generally trivialise the importance of the father to their children. It is not surprising that so many father just give up faced with the overwhelming odds against them - very very sad but not surprising. What do you think?Should this implacable hostility be treated as child abuse?
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