Malcolm Richardson, chair of the Magistrates' Association's Family Proceedings Committee, said the predicted rise in the number of contact and residence orders proved there was a need to get parents to make "flexible and long-standing agreements in the interests of their children".
The Department for Constitutional Affairs said this week that the total number of orders would rise from 90,000 in 2002 to around 180,000 by 2008.
In its green paper on parental separation launched in the summer (Children Now, 4-17 August), the Government proposed using more mediation and reducing the number of contact cases that go to the courts. A Bill is expected early next year.
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