Closed family courts pause parental visits

The meetings between the children with their separated parents could start as early as next week says official

RAWALPINDI: With the family courts shut owing to the lockdown, imposed to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus (Covid-19), one impact of it has been on supervised visits between children and their separated parents.

Children of separated parents have not met with one another for almost two months now due to the closure of the family courts, court officials say, adding that there are over 200 separated families who are scheduled to meet with their children once a month in the court’s premises. Children who arrive at the courts for such visits range from month-old babies up to 13-years-of-age.

A court official said that the meetings between the children with their separated parents could start as early as next week. 

Published in The Express Tribune, May 12^th, 2020.