In the recent case of Re H-B (Contact) [2015] Sir James Munby, the President of the Family Division heard an appeal in a case in which the father had not had direct contact with his two daughters (aged 16 and 14) since 2008. The father appealed against the refusal of his application for direct contact. The cessation of contact was following an incident between the father’s wife and the older daughter, during which she grabbed her and caused a superficial injury. Since this incident the father had only had indirect contact with the girls. Prior to the incident they used to stay with the father on alternate weekends and he was involved in doing some of the school runs.
Lord Justice Black, gave the leading judgment and referred to the fact both parents had ‘behaved in ways that are destructive to the prospects of contact’. Lord Justice Black was of the opinion that the father had been ‘startling unwise’ and there had been a lack of effective maternal support for direct contact and a failure on the part of the mother to properly support the therapy which had been recommended. He stated that there are some cases which the courts cannot solve despite all their endeavours and this was one such case. He said that the solution to most issues often lies in the hands of the parents and in particular:
‘Whatever the rights and wrongs in the past, the parent who is likely now to be able to influence things for the better is the mother. The girls have a close relationship with her and, if she changes her tune, there is a very good chance that they will listen. She owes it to them to try. She also owes it to herself to try because if she does not help the girls to gain a more accurate picture of their father and to make contact with him and his family again, it may have consequences for their relationship with her sooner or later.’
The President also stated that there are many things which children do not want to do which they ought to do and it is the parent’s job to use techniques which may include use of ‘both the carrot and the stick’ to get the child to do what they do not want to do. The President concluded by expressing his hope that this case would be a ‘catalyst for change’ as he thought it was ‘simply too dreadful to imagine a future where both parents are estranged from their daughters’.