The petition now sits on Parliament's own site: please sign it there

Update. The Family Court Gap petition is live on Parliament's own petitions site as of this week: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/771363

Here's what happened. The Commons Petitions Committee accepted the redraft, agreed the wording, and the campaign now has a formal ask sitting where it can force a Government response. The new petition asks for an amendment to Part IV of the Family Law Act 1996 to close the family court gap for abuse survivors without shared children. That means non-molestation and occupation order proceedings would get the protections Practice Direction 12J currently gives only where parties share children: fact-finding on abuse allegations, treatment of abuse as a pattern of behaviour, restrictions on undertakings and cross-undertakings where violence has been used or threatened, and provision for special measures.

Around 30,000 non-molestation applications are made each year. A significant share sit outside PD12J's protections. At a national Clare's Law workshop last Thursday, a serving officer described her force regularly turning away right-to-ask applicants seeking evidence for the family court, because no fact-finding route exists for survivors in this position. On 20 July, Written Answer PQ 11353 (Natalie Fleet MP, then Minister for Safeguarding) confirmed on the record that legal proceedings themselves can be used as instruments of abuse.

Why the new petition matters. At 10,000 signatures, the Government must respond in writing. At 100,000, it is considered for debate in the House of Commons. Those are the two levers we now have.

Please sign it here: petition.parliament.uk/petitions/771363

Please share it too, especially with survivors, family lawyers, DVA advocates and front-line officers who have seen the gap in practice.

Every signature adds weight to the file that Government has to answer.

Caroline