Court enforcement of child contact orders: evidence review

7. Settlement

7.1 An amended order may be required to encourage or enforce compliance. Instead of taking a punitive approach to enforcement, courts encourage this approach to the issue of contact, intended to move past the current difficulties. Amended orders can also be requested when children grow older and need different contact arrangements or if family circumstances change. In England and Wales, amendment of a contact order as a means to restart contact is a very common response.^[31] Similarly, a review of 100 child contact cases in Australia found a large majority of orders required to be amended due to a material change in circumstances, rather than punitively enforced due to wilful non-compliance by one parent.^[32]

7.2 Courts are also able to use amendment of orders in a more punitive way – such as transferring the residence of a child – but, as child welfare principles are intended to be at the heart of most systems of contact, this is rare. The Family Law Council of Australia, for example, recommends this intervention only when necessary for strongly uncooperative parents and when suitable alternatives are possible – which may be with a grandparent or other extended family and not the contact parent.^[33] They also note this could be for a designated time, to allow parents to consider their position.