There has been increasing concern that a vital element of parental separation processes should be the continuing involvement of both parents in their children's lives. This is reflected in the report of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Family and Community Affairs (2003), Every Picture Tells a Story. Recommendation 5 of that report, on child custody arrangements following parental separation, suggests that: 'Part VII of the Family Law Act 1975 be ... amended to require mediators, counsellors and legal advisors to assist parents for whom the presumption of shared parenting responsibility is applicable, develop a parenting plan'.

This recommendation is incorporated within the November 2004 Discussion Paper that called for public submissions on the proposed changes to the family law system including the establishment of Family Relationship Centres (FRCs) where parents will be assisted to develop such parenting plans (Commonwealth of Australia, 2004). Of some concern is the Discussion Paper's concentration on details of the 'contact regime' rather than an holistic 'parenting plan' that includes both parents and covers all aspects of the child's welfare and development in both the short and longer-term.

Our Children's Health and Safety Needs is the first of a set of instruments developed in a collaborative research project between Anglicare(WA) and Edith Cowan University with funding from the Federal Attorney-General's Department under the aegis of the Contact Orders Program. The aim of the project is to develop an instrument (template) that will help mediators, counsellors and legal advisors to assist separating parents to develop parenting plans that address children's health and safety issues. Part of a larger set of instruments that are being developed for use with parents, Our Children's Health and Safety Needs will build a comprehensive plan for the ongoing joint parenting of children following separation and divorce.