Covid and children: Your Rights

Steven Wadehttps://familylawassistance.co.uk/our-founders/

It’s an attack on my rights!

I admit it. I’ve worked in family law for so long it’s affected the way I think. Sometimes for the good. It’s made me clearer about how things in the real world work. Sometimes for the bad…I’m somewhat more cynical than I was when it comes to law and pollitics. I also tend to skip a lot of the outrage and anger that I once had when I was going through it and that people who haven’t experienced the Family Law system long enough feel.

So when Covid hit and we faced shortages, lockdowns, restrictions and discussion about whether children should decide if they want the vaccine or not it’s familar territory for me and the rest of the Family Law Assistance team.

You want the truth? In a lot of ways your rights haven’t changed as a result of Covid….it’s been like this for a while now and you just likely haven’t realised.

Nothing has changed

For those of us who have involvement in family law though? It’s nothing new. Intact families may have raged about children not seeing grandparents but it’s just `business as usual’ here. We’ve been there, seen it, done it and got the court order – it’s usually paternal grandparents who lose out because mothers are usually the primary carer post separation and although they can make an application for contact they either a) don’t know they have that power or b) don’t want to make an already bad situation worse.

Or earlier on in the pandemic when there was the confusion about whether children could travel between their parent’s homes – with contact being denied on the basis that children have one home…usually viewed as the primary carer (with it being clear that shared parenting, residence and the like isn’t as clear as some people seem to think it is).

And more recently it’s been the outrage over whether your child decides if they want the vaccine or not if you don’t like the decision. Who gets the casting vote on that, eh? Work in family law long enough and that’s a simple one…(and if you want a free download to find out, give us your email address in the form below and we’ll send you a download link).

Parental insight?

As I said above…I’m a bit of a cynic. Most of the noise about this sort of thing right now is from parents who are still together, who don’t have exposure to the Family Law system. Those that have – well, they probably aren’t that surprised by what is going on because it’s pretty much `business as usual’.

My prediction? When Covid is behind us all, intact families will go back to not really understanding what `rights’ they have and take for granted that something as simple as going to see Granny can take place without any ceremony.

And the rest of us? Well…you know the drill.

About the author…

Steven Wadehttps://familylawassistance.co.uk/our-founders/

Steven Wade is the founder of Family Law Assistance, a team of McKenzie Friends supporting litigants in person through the family court system in England and Wales. With nearly two decades of experience in family law starting in 2006., Steven has guided hundreds of clients through proceedings involving child arrangements, parental alienation, financial disputes, and non-molestation orders as well as finance and divorce matters. He's run branches of Fathers Need Fathers in England and Wales (now Both Parents Matter), hosted workshops for separated parents, trained McKenzie Friends to assist litigants in the family and travels around the country to assist men and women in and out of court. Steven regularly produces content to demystify legal processes both in blog posts on this site and also on Tiktok and is known for his empathetic, practical advice. He has delivered training and support to parents and support workers dealing with the route through the family court.