What Impact Does Returning From A Quarantined Country have on Child Contact

There has been some debate on how parents returning from abroad with a 14-day isolation requirement impacts any child Contact arrangements.

The legal group – Resolution has asked the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) about Covid-19 quarantine rules and their impact upon child arrangements when one parent lives abroad. With the half-term holidays fast approaching, the question of entering a restricted (quarantined) country for contact will be more pressing than ever.

The MoJ, with the Department for Transport, provided the following clarification:

• A child is permitted to move between addresses to fulfil formal (i.e. court ordered) contact arrangements within 14 days of their return from overseas, and that the parent who accompanied them overseas can leave quarantine to hand them over to the other parent in order to comply with the contact arrangements.
• A parent entering the country can also leave self-isolation for “handover” as part of formal contact arrangements; and furthermore there is nothing in the Regulations that prevents a child already in the UK from visiting or staying with that parent in self-isolation (assuming that no other COVID requirements – i.e. rule of 6 – are broken).
• But the visiting parent would not be exempted from self-isolation merely because they were in the UK to spend time with their child and wanted to leave their address with the child for recreation

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