With the long summer holidays approaching for schools across the UK, a Stoke family law specialist is urging separated parents to plan early, avoid assumptions, communicate clearly, and keep children out of adult conversations about contact.

Emma James, Senior Associate and family law solicitor at Smith Partnership, has explained how the summer holidays can place pressure on arrangements that may otherwise work well during term time.

"Often, parents might have a normal arrangement in term time. When the children are at school, parents know what they're doing, when the children will be in their care, and what's happening," Emma said.

"However, school holidays can be a challenge, partly because each parent may want to change the normal arrangements during the summer break, as whilst they want to spend time with their children, many parents have also got work commitments."

With summer bringing several weeks of childcare, annual leave, trips away and changes to usual routines, Emma said the most common disputes often start when plans are assumed rather than shared.

"Usually, the main flare up is lack of communication," she said.

"One parent might believe that they are clear about what's happening, but if it hasn't actually been voiced to the other parent, they may genuinely not know what the other is planning.

"Sometimes it can also be a challenge if the parents have tried to communicate through the children, as opposed to directly with the other parent. So very often, it's lack of communication that causes a difficulty, and children can then get stuck in the middle of that."

Emma expressed how parents who are worried that summer contact could be blocked, should start by setting out clearly to the other parent what they would like to happen.

"Communication is key. You can only start to sort things out if you communicate," she said.

"That doesn't necessarily mean speaking to the other party. In this day and age, there are lots of different means of communication, such as telephone, text or WhatsApp.

"But parents need to be careful about communication, because with things like text messages, you can't hear tone of voice, so sometimes those types of messages can be misconstrued. Parents could use a Parenting App to help with this"

Where parents have tried to resolve arrangements between themselves but remain stuck, Emma comments how other options should be explored before thinking about a court application.

"It doesn't mean parents can't resolve things amicably," she said.

"There are other solutions outside of court, which can help parents to come up with an amicable solution, such as mediation. Mediation helps parents to discuss and communicate with each other, with an independent third party, to help reach a solution."

"Every family is different. It's not possible to say there is a particular model that every family should follow, because that's just not realistic. Equally, every child is different. What the children are used to, and the parents' circumstances, will differ from family to family."

She said parents often find it helpful to begin with the arrangements their children are familiar with, then adjust them for the school break.

"What parties find really helpful is to think of a model in the holiday that allows you to continue with your term time arrangements, but with these arrangements being tweaked to take into consideration that the children are on holiday from school."

The warning comes as separated parents in Stoke and Staffordshire are also seeing changes in the way private law children matters are handled through the family court.

This follows the local rollout of the Child Focused Court, previously known as the Pathfinder model.

Emma said an application to the Child Focused Court is still a possibility for families who cannot reach agreement, or where urgent safeguarding concerns arise.

Although, parents should still try to resolve holiday arrangements before considering a court application through communication, negotiation or mediation where it is safe and appropriate to do so.

Emma said "Child Focused Courts put the welfare and safety of children first. The aim of the court is to promote early resolution and decisions that are long lasting for the benefit of the whole family.

"Child Focused Courts try to help parents come up with agreements more quickly, with fewer court hearings whilst still making sure that the arrangements are safe. It's a new approach with a report prepared at the outset and it's completely different than how court proceedings were done before."

For separated parents preparing for the summer break, Emma said their focus should be on early communication, realistic planning and keeping children's needs at the centre of any arrangement.

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