What a Commissioner does for separated families
12 March 2026: Building on the years of work outlined by Sir Andrew McFarlane, the retiring President of the Family Division who set them up, the UK’s Family Solutions Group (FSG) launched a new report. The headline of Putting Children First is to create a Commissioner for Separated Families. A surprise recruit paved the way.
Dame Rachel de Souza, the current Children’s Commissioner for England, shows how a Commissioner for Separated Families can work. For a start, rather like a product health warning, she wants family lawyers to send out her letter of good advice to separating parents. More importantly, a routine authoritative letter like that will regularly flag up how seriously everyone should take this issue as well as how governments and lawyers best make change happen.
“Promoting a kinder, gentler, and more humane approach to family separation putting children at the centre, requires change at a government level, within the family law community and from parents. If everyone rethinks their approach and truly put children first, we can change the experience of separation for the next generation.” Charlotte Bradley, Director of Edward Cooke Family Law
The Briefing Paper sets out the strong case for a Commissioner for Separated Families. They would head up the whole system, speak for children and families, speak authoritatively in policy making, and pull together the currently fragmented system.
The full report is long. It focuses a lot on how the legal profession and system should reshape itself in the way that car manufacturers have kept in business under the challenges of climate change. More radical, obvious but tricky changes are flagged up. For example, all those working with separated families should be appropriately trained to best support the families and their children. Some “kitemarking” could ensure the public has confidence in the professionals they go to for help and advice.
“Don’t let the tail wag the dog”
In his brief video for the launch, Sir Andrew summarises the background history and his continuing support for radical change. As the President of the family legal system he still notes the legal dominance and significant resistance to these changes from within the profession. His retiring message is, as usual, not to let “the tail wag the dog”.
Family separation should be recognised as a universal public-health issue. As yet, no national body is responsible for this.
Family lawyers themselves are talking more of the mental health needs of separating families. That’s the adults as well as their children. That means moving toward a health-based rather than legal approach. So FSG’s initiative has caught the headlines.
The FSG’s innovative launch is welcome. Getting one Commissioner to usher in another is brilliant. So is instituting a timely targeted repeating reminder to flag up how important family separation is to us all. Especially for the children.
