You may have been told by the Family Court that you must attend a SPIP course. This is a Separated Parents Information Programme, which the court can order parents to attend if they are involved in court proceedings. The purpose of the programme is to encourage parents to consider their dispute from their child’s perspective and learn about the impact of conflict.
The SPIP course is ending this week, and is being replaced by a new course called Planning Together for Children. The format of the new course remains the same. It will still be a 4 hour course for separated parents, run on Zoom. You do not attend the course with your former partner.
The purpose of the new course is to encourage separated parents to reach their own agreement and to record this agreement in an online parenting plan. A parenting plan can record any aspect of arrangements for a child, including where they spend their time, how you will agree on schools, where will the child spend birthdays, school holidays and bank holidays, how will you reach decisions on medical issues, who will hold the child’s passport?
One significant change is that the CAFCASS Family Court Advisor now has the option of referring parents to the Planning Together for Children course at any time during the court proceedings. This has previously been part of the judge’s role. Anyone applying to court for assistance in resolving a dispute should anticipate being referred to the Planning Together for Children course at some point during court proceedings.
The children cases that we advise on involve significant conflict and/or complex legal issues, which cannot be resolved in mediation and require court intervention. If you are experiencing significant conflict or unresolvable issues in your co-parenting, contact us for an initial discussion about your situation.
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