Family Court and Child Maintenance Reform: We Need a Triage System
- Deanna Newell
- Jul 5
- 3 min read
The family justice system is overwhelmed.
The Child Maintenance Service is overwhelmed.
Families are caught between two systems that often fail to communicate effectively with one another, while children are left living with the consequences.
What we need is not more blame.
What we need is a better process.
We need an effective triage system.
Just as the NHS uses triage to identify needs and risks early, the family courts and child maintenance services could benefit from using an effective and standardised checklist at the very beginning of every case.
Not assumptions.
Not competing narratives.
Facts.
Evidence.
Accountability.
The Questions That Should Be Asked
At the start of every family court and child maintenance application, professionals should ask:-
How long was the relationship?
Were children involved?
Did both parents work during the relationship?
If one parent did not work, why?
Was their ability to work restricted?
Who retained the family home?
Who retained pensions, savings, or investments?
What financial settlement was reached?
What does the bank evidence show?
What do communication records show?
Is there evidence of coercive control?
Is there evidence of financial or economic abuse?
Has contact been restricted and why?
Has financial support been restricted and why?
What arrangements existed before separation?
These questions reveal patterns that allegations alone cannot.
Stop Restricting Contact. Stop Restricting Money. Stop Restricting Children.
Children should never be used as bargaining tools.
Restricting contact to gain financial advantage is wrong.
Restricting financial support to punish the other parent is wrong.
Both behaviours place children in the middle of adult conflict.
If you genuinely love your children, their welfare comes before your anger.
Children come first.
Parents come second.
That is the reality.
No caring parent should willingly place their children into poverty to punish an ex-partner.
No caring parent should withhold meaningful contact to gain leverage over the other parent.
And yet these behaviours continue every day across the family justice system.
Follow the Evidence
Much of what is labelled as “parental alienation” may actually be something very different.
Sometimes it is coercive control.
Sometimes it is financial abuse.
Sometimes it is economic abuse.
Sometimes it is post-separation abuse.
That is why evidence matters.
What was the actual divorce settlement?
Who kept the house?
Who retained the pension?
Who retained the savings?
Who has financial security?
Who is struggling to meet the children’s daily needs?
The answers often tell a very different story from the one presented in court applications.
Accountability Creates Fairness
Imagine if both parties were required to provide a signed declaration of truth supported by documentary evidence from the outset.
Imagine if the Family Courts and the Child Maintenance Services worked together rather than separately.
Imagine if professionals could immediately identify indicators of coercive control, financial abuse, and economic abuse through a structured assessment process.
Cases would be resolved more quickly.
False allegations would be exposed sooner.
Children would spend less time caught in conflict.
Taxpayers’ money would be used more effectively.
Most importantly, children would benefit.
Reform Must Focus on Reality
Family court reform is needed.
Child maintenance reform is needed.
But reform must focus on evidence, not assumptions.
We need joined-up working between family courts, the Child Maintenance Service, domestic abuse specialists, safeguarding professionals, and support services.
We need earlier identification of coercive control and economic abuse.
We need accountability when false allegations are deliberately made.
And we need systems that focus less on narratives and more on facts.
Because these systems do not exist for parents.
They do not exist for professionals.
They do not exist for politics.
They exist for children.
Every decision we make today shapes the next generation’s understanding of responsibility, respect, relationships, and accountability.
If we continue to ignore coercive control, financial abuse, economic abuse, and post-separation abuse, we risk normalising them for our children.
That is a price society cannot afford to pay.
Deanna Newell Family Law
Advocacy for truth-tellers, survivors, and the children who deserve better
