In an opinion article published in the October Journal of the Law Society of Scotland, Ian Maxwell from Families Need Fathers Scotland comments on the recently published Children (Scotland) Bill.

"We are not alone in commenting on the shortcomings of this new legislation" he comments.  Our aticle says that it is a missed opportunity to transform Scottish Family Law into a world-leading position.  We suggest a change in terminology to remove the labels "residence" and "contact" from court orders as they tend to reinforce the mistaken opinion that one parent is in control.

We also suggest that the Bill could guide sheriffs and judges to take a different starting point for allocation of parenting time.

A rebuttable presumption of shared care was introduced in Belgian family law in 2006 and has led to about 50% of court orders being made for shared care. Setting the starting point doesn't remove the power of the sheriff or judge to order any appropriate division of time the child spends with each parent according to safety and suitability.

It does mean that the full involvement of both parents is taken seriously and moves the process away from the pursuer/defender battleground if both are capable and loving parents and their children have equal expectations of both.