The Family Justice Bill: Ensuring Equality and Safety in Family Law
Family law affects millions of children and families every year, yet the system has long been criticised for inconsistencies, bias, and a failure to adequately protect the most vulnerable. The proposed Family Justice Bill represents a crucial step toward a fairer, safer, and more equitable family justice system.
Why We Need the Family Justice Bill
Current family law often fails to reflect the principles of equality and child safety. Decisions about child contact, custody, and parental responsibility are frequently influenced by outdated presumptions, unconscious bias, and systemic inequities. Survivors of domestic abuse, women, and BAME families are disproportionately affected, facing repeated minimisation of their experiences and increased risk of harm.
Cases such as Re A (Parental Responsibility) [2023] EWCA Civ 689 and Re H-N [2021] EWCA Civ 448 illustrate how historical legal principles and a “pro-contact” culture can override safety considerations. Children have been placed in unsafe environments, while abusive parents maintain parental responsibility or contact rights. The Family Justice Bill seeks to address these systemic failings by ensuring that child welfare and safety are central to every decision.
Key Principles of the Family Justice Bill
Child Safety First
Children’s safety and well-being must take precedence over parental rights. Contact arrangements should be based on evidence and risk assessments, not historical presumptions.
Equality and Non-Discrimination
Families must be treated equitably regardless of gender, marital status, race, or socio-economic background. The bill seeks to eliminate systemic bias that disadvantages women, BAME families, and other marginalised groups.
Protection for Survivors of Domestic Abuse
The bill ensures that survivors of domestic abuse are not penalised for seeking to protect their children. It removes harmful presumptions that previously prioritised parental contact over safety.
Transparent and Consistent Legal Processes
Family court proceedings should be consistent, accessible, and transparent. Decisions must be clearly explained, and parents should have access to adequate legal support to understand and participate fully in proceedings.
Evidence-Based Decision Making
Courts will be guided by rigorous, independent assessments of risk and welfare, ensuring that judgments are informed by facts, expert advice, and research, not outdated stereotypes or assumptions.
What the Family Justice Bill Will Achieve
- Protect children from unsafe contact and environments
- Ensure that survivors of abuse and their children are supported rather than penalised
- Reduce inequality and bias in family court decisions
- Modernise family law to reflect contemporary understandings of child development, domestic abuse, and coercive control
- Provide clear guidance for judges, lawyers, and social workers, promoting consistency and fairness
Why Right to Equality Supports the Family Justice Bill
Right to Equality has long campaigned for reform in family law—from challenging the presumption of parental involvement to highlighting the systemic minimisation of abuse in family courts. The Family Justice Bill aligns with the organisation’s mission to:
- Protect children and survivors from harm
- Ensure equality before the law for all parents and families
- Reform outdated legal norms that perpetuate inequality and risk
Every child deserves to grow up in a safe, supportive environment, and parents must be held accountable to the same standard of care and responsibility. The Family Justice Bill represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to make that a reality.
Next Steps
The Family Justice Bill requires support from lawmakers, legal professionals, child welfare experts, and the public. Right to Equality continues to provide evidence, research, and survivor perspectives to shape a family justice system that prioritises children’s welfare and equality for all families.
Supporting the bill ensures a system where fairness, safety, and equality are not optional—they are the foundation.