School Holidays: Reaching Child Care Arrangements When Separated

School Holidays: Reaching Child Care Arrangements When Separated

School Holidays are often a special time where parents and children have the opportunity to spend quality time together. Following a separation, considering and deciding on the arrangements for the children, particularly during school holidays, can be daunting and can sometimes create conflict. This article aims to provide some guidance on how to approach reaching Child Care Arrangements for the School Holidays as amicably as possible.

1. Start Early

School Holidays can seem like a long way off, but they do have the tendency to come round very quickly. It is important to start talking to your former partner (either directly, through mediation or solicitors) as early as possible about potential arrangements (with a view to reaching an agreement). This is so that if there are any issues or disagreement you will have sufficient time to allow for negotiations and to explore as many options as possible, without the added stress of a looming deadline.

2. Keep the wishes and feelings of the Children in at the forefront of your mind

It is likely that both parents will want to spend time with the Children and sometimes the School Holidays capture significant occasions like Birthdays, Christmas Day and Easter Sunday. The holiday season can become quite overwhelming and exhausting for Children especially if they are needing to move from house to house, together with the excitement, for example vacations, Christmas festivities or other activities.We would suggest keeping in mind how your time can best be spent with your children whilst also factoring in the logistics of the arrangements and emotions of the children.

3. Focus on Compromise

It is possible for both parties to be able to reach an agreement, which suits them and the children, immediately. That said, it is possible for parties to disagree and for conflict to increase very quickly. This may be for various reasons such as, one party might feel as though the other party would be benefitting more from the proposed agreement. If this situation does present itself, we would recommend trying to focus on compromising and considering from the children’s perspective and how this might be rebalanced in other ways or at other times. This should assist with trying to get an agreement reached as soon as possible and it should also help to keep the parental relationship intact which in turn helps to promote positive co-parenting going forward.

We understand that time can be crucial leading up to the School Holidays and therefore obtaining legal advice at an early stage can help to ensure that an arrangement is reached in good time so that you can enjoy your time with your children during the holidays without worry.

Contact us

If you want some advice on Child Care Arrangements, please contact our expert Family team on 01252 733 770 or email enquiries@baker-law.co.uk. We will be happy to provide you with details of our fees for our services, and to make an appointment for you to meet one of our Family lawyers, at our Farnham office.