Judicial support for the Marriage Foundation - a step too far?

By Michael Kennedy

The Marriage Foundation was launched last week, with the full support of a senior family judge: Mr Justice Coleridge.

The Foundation aims to champion the case for marriage: "one of our primary aims is to reduce the number of children caught up in the family justice system (currently 3.8 million) and the misery which they experience as a result".

The reason that support from a High Court judge, for the Foundation, is being seen as a little controversial, is due to the fact that, by standing up for the institution of marriage, it could be said that Mr Justice Coleridge is less approving of other relationships e.g.: cohabitation and single parents.

And what, one may ask, will be the position of The Foundation on the increasingly prominent issue of marriage between partners of the same sex? Currently, it appears that the Foundation intends to stay out of the fray, which may be of some relief to Mr Justice Coleridge.

Where there must be unanimity, surely, is in relation to the need to ensure that, where there is relationship breakdown (of whatever type), that the children of those unions be protected from what the Foundation has described as a miserable experience.

We, here at Switalskis, always aim to ensure that that is the case.  Where children are involved, we aim to ensure advice and representation is carefully tailored so that there is as little distress caused to them as possible.

We shall have to wait and see how the work of The Foundation develops; to what extent it appears to have an impact on family policy and to what extent its main judicial champion takes an active role.