What if the other parent doesn't stick to the order?
This is the weakness of using the law. The court does not automatically enforce the order for you - you have to take further court action to try to enforce it. This means going back to court and asking for stronger terms to be added to the order. As a last resort, you can ask the court to enforce the order by 'penal' measures. This means threatening the other person with prison. Understandably, courts are reluctant to imprison people, especially if the children live with them.
In families where, what the courts call, an 'implacable hostility' has built up, courts find it very hard to make sure that contact continues.
Some parents find that the only thing that they can do is wait until the child is old enough to vote with its feet. Quite a lot of children seek out their other parent once they are able to do so.
