Une relation « dans l'intérêt de l'enfant » ? Le juge de la famille et les lieux d'accueil pour l'exercice du droit de visite

A Relationship in the Best Interest of the Child ? Family Court Judges and the Use of Meeting Places for the Exercise of Visiting Rights ; Family Contact Centres. To improve the understanding of the relations elaborated between judges and family contact centres, 18 family court judges have been interviewed. An analysis of these interviews reveals a two-fold paradox : In the first place, although the judges are very anxious to obtain information and have the authority to demand that family contact centres supply them with this information, in general they content themselves with obtaining less information than the amount desired. They thus respect the arguments of confidentiality put forward by the family contact centres. In the second place, even though the judges attach great authority to their decisions, they do not dispose of the legal means to compel the family contact centres to respect them. Nevertheless, they manage to achieve this without too much difficulty. The conclusion is that the collaboration between the judges and the family contact centres strengthens the authority of the judicial decision with the purpose of maintaining the Personal relationships of the child with both its parents.