In a move described as “momentous” by campaigners and widely hailed by domestic abuse organizations, the UK government has announced it will remove the legal presumption that parental involvement is always in a child’s best interest in family court cases. The decision, revealed on October 22, 2025, marks a dramatic shift in how courts will approach child contact arrangements, prioritizing child safety over the traditional bias toward shared parental contact—even in cases where abuse is alleged or established.
The presumption, embedded in the Children Act 1989 and reinforced by the Children and Families Act 2014, has for years guided judges to assume that a child benefits from involvement with both parents, unless there is evidence of risk. According to the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), this approach has often led to a “no stone unturned” culture in family courts, where maintaining contact with both parents was prioritized, sometimes at the expense of children’s safety.
The move to repeal this presumption follows the government’s own Harm Panel review in 2020, which found the policy “not fit for purpose” and recommended urgent action. The panel’s findings were echoed by a 2023 review from the Domestic Abuse Commissioner, which revealed that domestic abuse was cited in a staggering 87% of analyzed case files, yet 44% of those cases still resulted in direct, unsupervised overnight contact with the parent accused of abuse. The reviews collectively concluded that the presumption reinforced a “pro-contact culture” and too often detracted from the court’s focus on the child’s individual welfare and safety.
Justice Minister Baroness Levitt, commenting on the policy shift, stated, “The horrors of domestic abuse can scar a child for life. It is apparent from our research that the presumption of parental involvement can, in some cases, lead to contact being ordered even in cases where there has been domestic abuse. Our priority must always be children’s welfare. Being a parent is a privilege not a right: the only right which matters is a child’s right to safety and this government is determined to ensure that that is at the heart of every decision made about each and every child.”
While the precise timeline for legislative change remains uncertain, the Ministry of Justice has pledged that it will legislate to repeal the presumption “when parliamentary time allows.” The announcement has been welcomed by a broad coalition of advocates and charities, including Women’s Aid and the Domestic Abuse Commissioner’s office, who have campaigned for years to see such reform.
Claire Throssell, whose tireless advocacy has been instrumental in bringing about this change, lost her sons Jack, 12, and Paul, 9, in a house fire started by their father during an unsupervised contact visit in Yorkshire eleven years ago. Despite previous threats to kill both himself and the children, the father was allowed contact under the then-prevailing legal framework. Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour, Throssell reflected, “Let’s be honest, for 30 years the family courts have let down children, have failed to protect them, have failed to see, hear, believe and support them. They mustn’t be allowed to fail them for 30 more. I hope it goes through as quickly as possible next year.”
Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy paid tribute to Throssell’s “relentless advocacy for children’s safety,” noting, “As we mark this important step forward in the law, I pay tribute to her sons, Jack and Paul, whose memory drives our commitment to ensuring no other child suffers a similar fate.”
Women’s Aid chief executive Farah Nazeer warmly welcomed the move, calling it “an important first step” but cautioning that deep-rooted attitudes in the family courts would require further action. “Contact with an abuser is deeply harmful to children, with it not only risking their physical and mental wellbeing, behaviour, and development, but also their lives, in the most extreme of cases,” Nazeer said. She urged mandatory specialist domestic and sexual abuse training for judges to ensure preventable mistakes are avoided and that both women and child survivors are kept safe.
The government’s reforms do not stop at repealing the presumption. An amendment to the Victims and Courts Bill, tabled in Parliament this week, will automatically restrict parental responsibility for anyone convicted of serious sexual offences against any child, and in cases where a child is born of rape. The amendment requires the Crown Court to issue a prohibited steps order restricting parental responsibility for offenders sentenced to four or more years in prison for serious child sexual abuse offences. Notably, this provision applies to offences against any child, not just those for whom the perpetrator holds parental responsibility. In cases where rape results in the birth of a child, the restriction would apply specifically to that child.
Deputy Prime Minister Lammy described these reforms as a “crucial step in restoring faith in the justice system,” adding, “It puts the rights of survivors above the rights of rapists and signals a landmark shift in how this country’s legal system values safety, dignity, and truth.”
The changes are the culmination of years of campaigning by figures such as Baroness Harman, Jess Asato MP, and Natalie Fleet MP. In a joint statement, they said, “This amendment will finally offer protection for not only children born of rape, but also the mothers, who have until now always lived in fear of their rapists interfering in the lives of their children through their parental responsibility rights. This change will end that fear. It will deliver powerful, lasting change for thousands of women and children and I am delighted that this Government has listened to our concerns and acted so swiftly.”
Minister for Victims and Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls, Minister Davies-Jones, underscored the government’s broader mission: “These reforms will shield both mothers and children from the heinous actions of predatory parents as part of our mission to halve violence against women and girls in a decade under our Plan for Change.”
The repeal of the presumption of parental involvement is expected to lead to quicker decisions to restrict contact with abusive parents, placing the child’s welfare and safety at the core of every family court decision. The government’s own review found that most cases still ended with some form of contact, often unsupervised, even when there were indicators of risk. The new approach will rely on the “welfare checklist” in section 1 of the Children Act, which requires courts to consider the child’s wishes and feelings, needs, likely effects of any change, and any risk of harm, among other factors.
As the UK embarks on this new era for family law, campaigners and survivors alike are hopeful that the reforms will finally put children’s safety first—ending decades of what many have called a dangerous status quo.
