The recent high-profile cases involving two separate 12-year-old children, one of whom is in Gozo, being forced to return to the UK against their express wishes raises serious issues, the Equal Parenting Alliance has said.

The Equal Parenting Alliance is a new UK political party, formed in 2006, with the aim of promoting a system of family justice in the UK that puts the needs and interests of children first. It aims to do this by standing for election and requiring other parties to have policies that will alleviate the current failure of family law to operate in the interests of the child.

Both these children (Molly Campbell being returned from Pakistan, and Shaun Attard from Malta) have expressed very clearly their desire to stay with their fathers and family. But, despite their wishes, the courts in Pakistan and Malta sent them back to the jurisdiction of the UK family courts.

EPA’s concern is that the UK family courts will have little respect for the wishes of these children once they are back in the UK. Despite the fact that 12-year-old children are usually considered “Gillick Competent” (where they are capable of involvement in decisions concerning their welfare), EPA’s experience indicates that their views will be almost entirely disregarded by UK family courts.

Indeed, EPA added in a statement, how can anyone have confidence in a system where the judges and officials are accountable to no one and all official documents and evidence will be given in total secrecy and away from any possibility of public scrutiny?

It concluded: If foreign courts were aware of the potentially unsound nature of all decisions made by UK family courts, maybe they would not be so quick to return children to their jurisdiction against their wishes.

EPA holds that the current UK family law system fails to protect children by allowing one parent to easily eliminate the other from a child’s life, if they wish. It believes this is fundamentally wrong and bad for children. A family justice system should respect the right of children to normal parenting by their two parents over and above the rights or wishes of either of their parents.