When the Bough Breaks … Matrimonial Supervision Orders?

Abstract

The inexorable upward trend in the incidence of divorce and marital breakdown in post-war Britain is a subject which has seldom been far from the headlines, or from the concerns of policy makers and researchers. The figures reached a new peak in 1985 with 160,300 divorces in England and Wales. Of these, nearly 89,000 couples were responsible for 155,740 children under the age of 16, there being a further 71,152 children over 16 involved.¹ In addition, in 1985, the Magistrates' Domestic Courts in England and Wales dealt with a total of 241,350 applications for orders in domestic proceedings, of which 8,720 concerned custody and/or access.² In exercising their powers in relation to divorce and marital breakdown, the divorce and magistrates' domestic courts are required under section 1 of the Guardianship of Minors Act 1971 to regard the welfare of the child as the first and paramount consideration. In pursuit of this they have the power in exceptional circumstances, under section 44(1) of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 and section 9 of the Domestic Proceedings and Magistrates' Courts Act 1978 respectively, when making an order for custody, to place the child under the supervision of an independent person, i.e a probation officer or the local authority.