What Is a Child Arrangements Order? Who Applies and How Courts Decide

A child arrangements order is a family court order in England and Wales that sets out who a child lives with, who they spend time with, and when. It replaced the older residence and contact orders on 22 April 2014, when the Children and Families Act 2014 took effect.¹ Courts make these orders when parents or other family members cannot agree on arrangements for a child after separation, and the court’s overriding concern throughout is the child’s welfare.²

What the Order Actually Decides

The statutory definition is simple. A child arrangements order regulates who a child lives with, who they spend time with, and when that living or contact happens.³ In practice it does two jobs.

The “Lives With” Part

This names the person or people the child will primarily reside with. It can place the child with one parent most of the time, or divide time roughly equally between both. A “lives with” designation also has an important side-effect: anyone named in this part of the order who does not already have parental responsibility gains it automatically while the order is in force. That matters most for unmarried fathers who never acquired parental responsibility through other routes, and for non-parents such as grandparents.

The “Spends Time With” Part

This sets out the schedule for contact between the child and the parent or person they do not primarily live with. It can cover direct contact (overnight stays, daytime visits, holiday time) and indirect contact (phone calls, video calls, letters). Where parents struggle to cooperate, courts often spell out specific days and collection times rather than leaving the detail open.

The Two Related Section 8 Orders

A child arrangements order sits alongside two other Section 8 orders, which are separate orders and not sub-types. A specific issue order resolves a particular disagreement about parental responsibility, such as which school the child should attend or what religious upbringing they follow. A prohibited steps order prevents a parent from taking a specified action without the court’s permission, for example removing the child from England and Wales or changing their surname.³ A court can make all three in the same proceedings if the situation calls for it.

Who Can Apply

Parents and guardians, including special guardians, can apply without needing the court’s permission. That is true whether or not they were ever married and whether or not they lived with the child. Several other people have an automatic right too:

Anyone the child has lived with for at least three years. That period does not need to be continuous, but it cannot have started more than five years before the application or ended more than three months before it.
A relative of the child who has had the child living with them for at least one year immediately before applying.
A step-parent who has parental responsibility, or whose family has treated the child as a child of the family.

Grandparents who do not meet those residency rules, along with family friends and more distant relatives, must first ask the court for permission (known as “leave”) to bring their case. The court looks at the applicant’s connection to the child, the type of order sought, and the likely effect on the child’s life. Permission is routinely granted where a genuine relationship exists, though the extra step can add weeks.

Mediation Comes First

Before filing most applications, you have to attend a Mediation Information and Assessment Meeting (MIAM). This is a short session with an accredited mediator who explains alternatives to court, including mediation itself.⁴ The other parent is also expected to attend. If both of you agree arrangements through mediation, the agreement can be turned into a consent order rather than fought over in a hearing.

The MIAM requirement does not apply in every case. The main exemptions cover domestic abuse supported by evidence (such as a police caution, conviction, protective injunction, or letter from a health professional); urgency where there is a risk of harm or where delay would cause serious prejudice; a MIAM attended in the previous four months with no resolution possible; and situations such as the other party being in prison, the applicant having a disability that prevents attendance, or the child being subject to local authority proceedings. You state which exemption applies on the application form, and the court can send you back to a MIAM if the exemption claim looks weak.

How the Court Decides: The Welfare Checklist

When an application is contested, the judge works through a statutory checklist before deciding what arrangement serves the child’s welfare.² The seven factors are:

The child’s wishes and feelings, considered in light of their age and understanding. Older children’s views carry more weight, though no specific age gives a child the right to decide.
The child’s physical, emotional, and educational needs.
The likely effect of any change in circumstances. Courts are cautious about uprooting a child from a settled routine without strong reason.
The child’s age, sex, background, and any relevant characteristics, including cultural or religious background where relevant.
Any harm the child has suffered or is at risk of suffering, including past abuse, neglect, or domestic violence.
How capable each parent is of meeting the child’s needs. This extends to other people the court considers relevant, such as a new partner living in the household.
The range of powers available to the court. The court can make a different order from the one requested if that better serves the child.

No single factor automatically outweighs the others. Judges weigh them together and set out the reasoning in the judgment. Alongside the checklist, the court applies a “no order” principle: it will not make an order at all unless doing so would be better for the child than leaving things alone.²

The Court Process

You apply by submitting a C100 form to the family court. If there are allegations of harm or domestic abuse, you also complete a C1A. The same C100 form is used for specific issue orders, prohibited steps orders, or to vary or discharge an existing order.⁵ There is a court fee, with remission available for people on low incomes or certain benefits.

Once the application is issued, the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (CAFCASS) runs safeguarding checks with the police and local authorities and conducts telephone interviews with both parties. The results go into a safeguarding letter that flags concerns about domestic abuse, substance misuse, mental health, risk of abduction, or any other welfare issue.⁶

The first court date is the First Hearing Dispute Resolution Appointment (FHDRA), usually around five to six weeks after the application is issued. A CAFCASS officer is normally present, and the judge, having read the safeguarding letter, tries to help the parents agree on the day. If they agree, the judge can make a consent order on the spot. If they do not, the judge gives directions: these might include ordering a full welfare report from CAFCASS (a Section 7 report), listing a fact-finding hearing where allegations of abuse are disputed, or scheduling a further dispute resolution appointment.

Cases that still do not resolve go to a final hearing, where the judge hears evidence from both parties and often from the CAFCASS officer, applies the welfare checklist, and makes a binding order. Most cases settle before this stage. The full route from application to final hearing can take six months to a year or more in complex cases.

Agreeing Arrangements Without a Fight

Parents who already agree can ask the court to turn the agreement into a consent order, giving it the same legal force as an order made after a contested hearing. This is worth doing because informal agreements, even written ones, are not enforceable through the courts. A consent order is. You submit a draft order to the court, and the judge will approve it if satisfied the arrangement serves the child’s welfare. Most consent orders go through without a hearing.

If the Other Parent Breaches the Order

A child arrangements order is a court order, and ignoring it has consequences. If one parent refuses to hand the child over, consistently cancels visits, or otherwise fails to comply, the other can apply to the court for enforcement. The court has several options:⁷

Referral to mediation or a “Planning Together for Children” programme as a softer first step.
Variation of the order to make it more specific, or reconsideration of the living and contact arrangements entirely, including transferring residence to the other parent in serious cases.
An enforcement order under Section 11J of the Children Act 1989, imposing an unpaid work requirement of up to 200 hours on the person who breached the order. The court must be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that the person failed to comply without a reasonable excuse.⁸
Financial compensation under Section 11O for losses caused by the breach, such as the cost of a missed holiday.
Committal to prison or a fine in the most serious cases, treating the breach as contempt of court. This is reserved for persistent or flagrant refusals.

Courts generally start with the lighter measures and escalate. A parent with a genuine reason for not complying, such as a child being ill on the day of handover, is unlikely to face enforcement action. The real target is a pattern of deliberate obstruction, which judges take seriously because of the damage done when a child loses contact with a parent.

Changing or Ending the Order

Circumstances change. A parent may need to relocate, a child’s needs shift as they grow, or the schedule simply stops working. Either party can apply to vary or discharge a child arrangements order using the same C100 form.⁵ The court applies the same welfare checklist and “no order” principle it used first time round.

A child arrangements order normally stays in force until the child turns 16. In exceptional cases the court can extend it to 18, but that is uncommon. The order also falls away if the parents later obtain a new order setting out a different arrangement, or if the court discharges it on application. In practice, many orders become less rigid as children grow older and develop their own views about how to split their time.

1
Legislation.gov.uk. Children and Families Act 2014 Section 12
2
Legislation.gov.uk. Children Act 1989 Section 1
3
Legislation.gov.uk. Children Act 1989 Section 8
4
Justice UK. Practice Direction 3A – Family Mediation Information and Assessment Meetings (MIAMs)
5
GOV.UK. Apply for a Court Order to Make Arrangements for a Child
6
Cafcass. A Family Court Adviser Gives Safeguarding Advice to Court – Safeguarding Letter
7
Cafcass. Complying With the Order of the Court and Enforcement
8
Legislation.gov.uk. Children Act 1989 Section 11J