Separation Aware Paperwork

Paperwork used by all agencies and practitioners (not just specialist separation agencies) needs to reflect the realities of contemporary families. All paperwork and record-keeping therefore needs to include:

• contact details for both biological parents and other significant carers, including step-parents
• important information like parental responsibility, court-orders and residence status
• contact relationships – i.e. resident, non-resident, indirect contact
• a way of mapping child-parent relationships in complex blended families in sufficient detail for it to be useful 

One benefit is to normalise the sharing of separation information by parents. This is very important, enabling us to identify all support for children and to flag up concerns.

It is asking a lot of busy practitioners to remember it all, and to write this out in note form. It will never be simple, as families aren’t, but it needs to be made as easy as possible. One way of dealing with this complexity is a key, using standard letters. The key would need to be included or readily available to anyone recording or reading the information. For example:

The sections to be filled in for each significant carer would look something like the table below. Different things may apply to different children. Each one can be numbered (or their initials used) and the relationship, contact and legal position between that child and the adult recorded, (along with a list of children):

Download an example

If the paperwork you are using is not sufficiently separation and blended family aware, or they will assist your note-taking, you are welcome to use the supplementary pages available here. They contain the above forms, the key and instructions. They can be used in addition – but not where they will interfere with statutory assessments.

Remember to follow protocols regarding confidentiality and information sharing and storage.