Five years after celebrity couple Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt filed for divorce, there is still no full agreement on custody of their six children. Pitt wants joint custody, whereas Jolie wants sole custody. According to The Mirror, the couple have already spent around $1million on legal fees.

Their 5-year battle over custody has lasted considerably longer than the couple’s actual marriage. After being a couple for 10 years, Jolie and Pitt married in 2014, and filed for divorced just two years later, with Jolie citing "irreconcilable differences". Their divorce was finalised in April 2019, yet the wrangle over joint or sole custody issues is still not resolved.

Stuck in the middle

The sheer length of time this divorce has taken so far must have put considerable strain on all family members, not least the children caught in the middle of this epic tussle.

When it comes to the impact of long court cases, it doesn’t matter if you’re a celebrity or not. Research has shown time and time again the harmful impact on children of being subject of court proceedings for so long of their childhood. The pain and upset of seeing their parents separated is constantly reinforced by each new action, hearing or failed appeal.

Keeping a sense of perspective

It’s all too easy to lose perspective as a parent and become entrenched in legal proceedings. The desire to get exactly what you want may cloud your focus on whether the means justify the end. Time spent on drawn-out legal proceedings are also a loss for you as parents too. The more time spent in court, the less time you both will have to spend with your children, enjoying their childhood.

At LGFL, we put the interests of your child/children first. We offer pragmatic child-centred advice, balanced with the need to be fighting your corner, to achieve the best result possible for you and your family. If you think you’d benefit from this approach:

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• Request your initial 1 hour appointment online

The children are growing up fast…

Thanks to the continuing custody battle, the number of children that would be affected by a custody order (child arrangement order in the UK) will have decreased. Eldest son Maddox is now aged 20, and Pax turns 18 in November 2021. Three of the couple’s children were adopted by the couple, whilst the other three are one or both parents’ biological children. Pitt was Jolie’s third husband, and Jolie Pitt’s second wife.

Cool people

Despite the intense media scrutiny, according to Jolie, their children seem to be taking events in their stride. She told E!'s Daily Pop:

“We're such a team so I am very, very lucky. I’m always the one who worries but I don't worry about them. They're cool people.”

According to Sky News, Jolie also told Vogue magazine:

“She had left the marriage for the wellbeing of her family, describing her children as ‘very brave, very strong young people’.”

Helping parents reach agreement through mediation

At LGFL, we have considerable success helping separating couples and parents resolve child-related disputes out of court through mediation. You and your legal team can either meet with or be in the same building as your partner and their tea. An independent, fully trained mediator will help you both reach agreement on important issues around children, both financial and practical.

During the pandemic, we introduced hybrid mediation, which involves the same process but without the need to be physically in the same building. This has proven useful for couples who do not want to see each other or in cases where one partner may feel threatened or intimidated by their ex.

If you have a separation or divorce issue that needs resolving, contact us to discover how mediation can help you resolve disputes with less court, less costs and less conflict.

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And may we just say, Brad and Angelina, we’re here to help if you need us….

This autumn, millions of children will be offered a COVID-19 vaccination for the first time. Concerned parents will be weighing up the arguments for and against the vaccine for their children, especially if they are at higher risk due to health conditions.

Given the very natural concern for the welfare of any child, let alone high-risk children, parents may have opposing views on COVID-19 and other childhood vaccinations.

For separated and divorced parents, the “Marmite” polarising views on COVID-19 vaccinations can become a major issue. Inevitably, differing views are magnified when separated parents are living separate lives.

Whatever your own views, vaccinations are an important issue now and into the future, both in terms of health and access to events and travel abroad. So the issue will need resolving sooner rather than later.

Can my child get the COVID-19 vaccine?

From Monday 20th September 2021, the the COVID-19 vaccine is on offer to all 16 and 17-year-olds, and all children aged 12 to 15.

• Those aged 16 and 17 will be offered an initial jab, with the intention of a second dose at a later date.
• Healthy children aged 12 to 15 will be offered a first dose of Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.
• Children at higher risk aged 12 to 15 are eligible for two doses.

All those aged under 18 will receive the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, and the Moderna vaccine has also been approved for use for this age group. The JCVI is waiting on more international data before deciding if healthy children need a second dose of vaccine. Dr Chris Whitty has said that there are currently no plans to vaccinate those aged under 12.

Vaccinations and schools

The UK’s four chief medical officers (CMOs) have said that the vaccine is being offered on "public health grounds" to reduce transmission in schools.

"Having a significant proportion of pupils vaccinated is likely to reduce the probability of such events which are likely to cause local outbreaks in, or associated with, schools. They will also reduce the chance an individual child gets Covid-19. This means vaccination is likely to reduce (but not eliminate) education disruption.”

The School Age Immunisation Service will deliver the majority of the vaccinations in schools. It is likely that each school will had out a consent form which one parent can sign to give their permission. 

Who has parental responsibility?

The guidance on Parental Rights and Responsibilities states:

“A mother automatically has parental responsibility for her child from birth.

A father usually has parental responsibility if he’s either:

- married to the child’s mother

- listed on the birth certificate (after a certain date, depending on which part of the UK the child was born in).”

If you don’t have parental responsibility you can apply for it. If you separate or divorce from the mother/father of your child, you both still keep parental responsibility.

What the government says about permission

Health Secretary Sajid Javid said in an interview with Sky News:

“If there is a difference of opinion between the child and the parent then we have specialists that work in this area, the schools vaccination service. They would usually literally sit down with the parent and the child, and try to reach some kind of consensus.

"If ultimately that doesn't work, as long as we believe that the child is competent enough to make this decision then the child will prevail."

 

What happens when parents disagree?

Under the law, healthcare professionals only need one person with parental permission to consent for them to provide treatment for a child. However, medical professionals such as doctors are unlikely to provide treatment if one parent disagrees with the other.

If parents can’t agree, a court can make the decision based on what is in the child’s best interest. Parents need to apply for a “specific issue application” so that the court can determine what should be done in the best interests of the child.

If the child doesn’t consent to treatment, and that refusal may lead to their death or a severe permanent injury, the Court of Protection can overrule.

Can’t agree? How dispute resolution and mediation can help

Communication and cooperation is key to effective co-parenting for separated or divorced couple. If children see their parents at loggerheads over the issue of vaccinations, it will not give them confidence in the eventual outcome.

That’s where dispute resolution and mediation can help. By talking through issues with the help of an independent mediator, couples can come to important agreements and decision in a less emotionally charged environment, and with due consideration of both sides of the argument. It can be particularly effective when amicable communications have broken down.

At LGFL, we have had great success in helping couples agree on important issue regarding their children, from financial support to schooling choices, and medical treatments and childhood vaccinations. Contact us to discuss how this might work for you as parents, or see our pages on dispute resolution and mediation.

The social aspect of child vaccinations

In early September, a group of leading UK scientists and health modelling experts Moderna submitted a scientific paper to The Lancet that claimed that vaccinating the under-16s would play a role in ending the pandemic more quickly”.

According to a report in iNews:

“The research found that if children as young as five were jabbed with 100 per cent uptake, hospital admissions due to Covid-19 would fall by 60 per cent across all age groups.”

The report also acknowledged, however, the announcement last week by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) that healthy children aged 12 to 16 would receive “marginal gain” from the COVID-19 vaccination.

International child vaccination policies

Elsewhere in the world, the Pfizer vaccine has been approved for those aged between 12 and 15, after research showed that this age group had a similar immune response to those aged 16-15. Children aged over 12 are currently offered the vaccine in France, the Netherlands, Germany, and Italy, with the US, Hong Kong and China recommending all over-12s receive the jab.

Vaccinations and the SEN child

At LGFL, we have a keen interest in family law cases involving SEN children. So we were very interested to read an article in GP Online from a doctor dealing with a couple with a Down’s syndrome girl. her father did not agree with childhood vaccinations, and had written to the GP to make his views clear. Her mother strongly supported all childhood vaccinations and wanted her daughter to have the COVID-19 vaccination if and when it was offered.

The GP referred to the “Green Book” a publication from Public Health England and the DHSC giving details of vaccinations and procedures. Down’s syndrome is listed in the Green Book as one of the conditions carrying “increased risk of serious COVID-19 disease”.

In this case, the advice to GPs was:

“The practice should advise the parents that they have a responsibility to discuss the matter and reach agreement between themselves as quickly as possible. Until the dispute is resolved, the child’s vaccination should generally not be provided unless the GP has considered it to be necessary to safeguard the child’s best interests.”

If as a couple you have come to an agreement, you might prefer that a third party takes your child to be immunised. So long as consent has been given by a person with parental responsibility, anyone can take your child to have their vaccination, including grandparents or a child-minder.

Need help reaching a decision together on COVID-19 vaccinations for your children?

Coming to an agreement is important not just for the current debate over COVID-19, and future immunisation programs against COVID-19 and other diseases. Contact us to discuss how mediation, including online hybrid mediation, can help you reach a decision without meeting face to face.

Remember, this service is to allow you to discuss and agree between you with the help of an impartial mediator. Your mediator will not hold or voice any opinion on the merits or otherwise of vaccinations, but guide you towards making a joint decision.

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- Request your appointment online