Avoid using it in anything you write for the court. Even if Cafcass use it, even if Solicitors use it. If you have a solicitor who uses it - explain to them you would prefer them to describe it in a different way, like "when the Father spends time with the child" or "when the child is in the Father's care" or "when my child is with me".
The word "contact" is still bandied about a lot, in a lazy, demeaning fashion usually. It is usually intentionally demeaning. Sometimes it is just a bad habit without the writer knowing their own subliminal biased attitude. Sometimes people are like sheep and just use it because other people have used it in certain documents.
Don't be a sheep.
I have a particular bugbear about this.
They just drag you in with this word - it's not just about time, it's about brainwashing you into feeling inferior and sounding inferior. Contact contact contact - go away go away go away. To me, when they start bandying that word around it is completely and totally loaded with - "secondary", "unimportant", "unsafe" "supervised" "go away" and "mum knows best".
Ok so why is it bandied around so much? Pre 2014 it was a technical legal term. A parent either had a residency order or a "contact" order. The legal terminology was changed, quite rightly, in 2014 to make things less divisive and extreme. The terms were changed to "lives with" and "spends time with" as part of the Child Arrangements Programme and the new Child Arrangements Orders (instead of Residence orders and Contact orders). A child arrangements order was one order, instead of separate orders - setting out the arrangements for the child with both parents. An order for both parents.
This was a great improvement. Some people preferred the old way when Mothers sounded more superior. And because the word "contact" can generally mean "contact" as well as being a legal term, they get away with still using it. But they take it to the extreme and solicitors for ex's will still use the vomit-making expression "when the child goes to contact". "Goes to contact"!!!! You are not even a human being any more! You are just "contact".
I strongly believe language influences people - in everything you write. Judges are highly qualified and intelligent. They read pages and pages and pages of documents all the time - huge bundles of evidence, multiple written documents. If yours stands out as easy to read, human, addressing a human, written like a human, using positive language that makes you sound human and makes the situation sound human - you have a good chance. Not only that you are dragging the Judge out of the mire of disappearing down a tunnel vision "contact led" dialogue.
The way you describe something changes things.
The word "contact" is still bandied about a lot, in a lazy, demeaning fashion usually. It is usually intentionally demeaning. Sometimes it is just a bad habit without the writer knowing their own subliminal biased attitude. Sometimes people are like sheep and just use it because other people have used it in certain documents.
Don't be a sheep.
I have a particular bugbear about this.
They just drag you in with this word - it's not just about time, it's about brainwashing you into feeling inferior and sounding inferior. Contact contact contact - go away go away go away. To me, when they start bandying that word around it is completely and totally loaded with - "secondary", "unimportant", "unsafe" "supervised" "go away" and "mum knows best".
Ok so why is it bandied around so much? Pre 2014 it was a technical legal term. A parent either had a residency order or a "contact" order. The legal terminology was changed, quite rightly, in 2014 to make things less divisive and extreme. The terms were changed to "lives with" and "spends time with" as part of the Child Arrangements Programme and the new Child Arrangements Orders (instead of Residence orders and Contact orders). A child arrangements order was one order, instead of separate orders - setting out the arrangements for the child with both parents. An order for both parents.
This was a great improvement. Some people preferred the old way when Mothers sounded more superior. And because the word "contact" can generally mean "contact" as well as being a legal term, they get away with still using it. But they take it to the extreme and solicitors for ex's will still use the vomit-making expression "when the child goes to contact". "Goes to contact"!!!! You are not even a human being any more! You are just "contact".
I strongly believe language influences people - in everything you write. Judges are highly qualified and intelligent. They read pages and pages and pages of documents all the time - huge bundles of evidence, multiple written documents. If yours stands out as easy to read, human, addressing a human, written like a human, using positive language that makes you sound human and makes the situation sound human - you have a good chance. Not only that you are dragging the Judge out of the mire of disappearing down a tunnel vision "contact led" dialogue.
The way you describe something changes things.