Lawyers 'need greater role in solving access disputes'

Mediation: family solicitors welcome report on contact.

Family lawyers will have an increased role to play in resolving access disputes for estranged couples, if plans put to the Lord Chancellor's Department this week are adopted.The report, Making Contact Work, was produced by the Children Act sub-committee of the Lord Chancellor's advisory board on family law, and looks at ways to resolve disputes over access to children and enforce court orders for contact.It recommends an increased role for the Children and Family Court advisory and support service in representing the interests of children, and helping to resolve disputes through negotiation, mediation and conciliation.

It also proposes the power to fine or impose community service on parents who do not comply with the orders.Jane Craig, chairwoman of the Solicitors Family Law Association, welcomed the plans, and said: 'In difficult contact disputes where there is no domestic violence, it is vital and very constructive to have a real emphasis on mediation and other therapeutic methods - such as seeing a psychiatrist - as a method of resolving the dispute.'However, she stressed the need for proper provisions to be put in place.

'It is all very well recommending mediation and negotiations for families undergoing contact disputes, but for the scheme to work it needs proper resources to be made available.'A spokesman for the Lord Chancellor's Department said all the proposals contained in the report were under consideration.Victoria MacCallum