Scottish Government

2004

CONTENTS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION
Purpose of the Study
Organisation of the Report
Policy Context
Legislation
Policy Emphasis
Deciding on Contact
Formal Child Contact Arrangements
Informal Child Contact Arrangements
CHAPTER TWO METHOD
Introduction
Aims and Objectives of the Study
Research Overview
Research Instruments
CHAPTER THREE THE COURT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
Introduction
CMS Database
CMS Fields
Recording of craves
Conclusion
CHAPTER FOUR COURT PROCEDURES RELATING TO CONTACT
Sheriffdoms
Sheriff Courts selected for study
Glasgow Sheriff Court
Dundee Sheriff Court
Dumfries Sheriff Court
Conclusion
CHAPTER FIVE SELECTING COURT RECORDS
Introduction
Data Sources
Information obtainable from court records
Record Availability
Limitations of the data
Identifying Contact Application records
Estimating the Number of Contact Applications
Conclusion
CHAPTER SIX ANALYSIS OF COURT RECORDS
Introduction
Contact and Craves
Status of parties
Pursuers
Children in Contact Cases
Cases proceeding to proof
Legal Aid
Contact Outcomes
Contact Orders
Domestic Abuse and Contact
Contact Orders, Curators and Solicitors
Descriptions of abuse contained in Records
Children's Views
CHAPTER SEVEN APPLICATIONS FOR CONTACT AND ABUSE
Introduction
Domestic abuse and pursuers
Type of contact and pursuers
Legal Aid and Pursuers
Pursuers and drug and alcohol misuse
Pursuers and defences
Conclusion
CHAPTER EIGHT SAMPLING
Peaks and troughs
CHAPTER NINE THE QUALITY AND RELIABILITY OF DATA
Introduction
Knowledge of domestic abuse at the beginning of proceedings
Decisions about contact
Children's views
How contact is managed Locally
CHAPTER TEN CONCLUSION
Can data on child contact applications and contact orders be systematically identified and extracted from existing records?
Are the data of a reasonable scope, quality and reliability?
Is there sufficient information to identify cases where there are allegations of domestic abuse on a systematic basis?
If data were available, what would be an appropriate sampling frame?
Which Phase objectives can reasonably be tackled by these data?
What role should primary research play in the overall research design?

APPENDIX 1
Research Method
Interview Topics for Court Clerks
How Children's views are Managed
Interview Topics for Sheriffs and Court Solicitors
Interview Topics for Other Professionals.

Tables
Table 1 Number of contact cases found by searches
Table 2 Number of cases
Table 3 Number of contact cases
Table 4 First crave when contact is among craves
Table 5 First crave when contact is among craves by court
Table 6 Status of parties in all cases
Table 7 Status of parties in contact cases
Table 8 Status of parties by court in contact cases
Table 9 Status of parties by pursuer in contact cases
Table 10 Pursuers
Table 11 Pursuers in contact cases by court
Table 12 Number of children in contact cases
Table 13 Average age of child in contact cases by court
Table 14 Contact cases proceeding to proof by court
Table 15 Legal Aid provided in all cases
Table 16 Legal Aid provided in contact cases
Table 17 Legal Aid provided in contact cases by court and parties
Table 18 Legal Aid provided in contact cases by pursuer
Table 19 CWH in all cases
Table 20 CWH in contact cases
Table 21 Contact application outcomes
Table 22 Contact application outcomes by court
Table 23 Domestic abuse raised in all cases
Table 24 Domestic abuse allegations in all cases
Table 25 Domestic abuse raised in contact cases by court
Table 26 Domestic abuse allegations in contact cases by court
Table 27 Contact orders where domestic abuse raised
Table 28 Type of contact granted where domestic abuse is raised
Table 29 type of contact when allegations are against pursuer
Table 30 Appointment of curators and solicitors where domestic abuse raised
Table 31 Contact actions where drugs and alcohol feature
Table 32 Contact actions where drugs and alcohol feature by pursuer
Table 33 Intimation to children in contact cases
Table 34 Recording of children's views in contact cases
Table 35 Numbers of children eligible to express views
Table 36 Children aged 8 and over who expressed views
Table 37 Numbers of contact cases where curator assigned
Table 38 Domestic abuse raised
Table 39 Abuser Pursuer by first crave in contact cases
Table 40 Abuser pursuer and type of contact awarded
Table 41 Abuser Pursuer receiving Legal Aid in contact cases
Table 42 Defender receiving Legal Aid in Abuser Pursuer contact cases
Table 43 Abuser Pursuer or drug/alcohol or both who received Legal Aid
Table 44 Abuser Pursuer or drug/alcohol pursuer by type of contact awarded
Table 45 Defences used in Abuser/Pursuer contact cases
Table 46 Stage 2 Research objectives

ACKNOWLEGEMENTS

We would like to thank the sheriff clerks and their staff who gave so generously of their time and expertise. They have helped enormously in this process of exploring a complex policy area. Thanks also to the Sheriffs, practitioners, service managers and support agency staff who spoke to us about their experiences, providing a rich and useful perspective on contact. Thanks also to Anita Morrison for support as project manager within the Executive and to members of the Advisory Group who provided useful comment and feedback at various stages.

This report is available on the Scottish Executive Social Research website only
www.scotland.gov.uk/socialresearch.