Top Notch Nannies began its 'divorce nanny' scheme after it was approached by a firm of London solicitors. Under the scheme, the solicitors ask the agency to provide a mature, trained nanny for a meeting with both parents, who know that if the nanny was not present they would not have had access to their children.
There is also an agreement that the nanny would write a testimonial-type letter to the court, if asked by one of the parents, to give her opinion about the parent's behaviour during the meeting. At present all the families involved are foreign nationals from the Middle East who are currently living in England.
Jean Birtles, director of Top Notch Nannies, said the scheme was 'a community service' and that its aim was to enable children to see both their parents in a divorce situation 'with as little trauma as possible'.
She added, 'The firm of solicitors checks all of the family's details first, for example that neither the husband nor the mother is violent, then gives us details of where the meeting is to be.
'The nanny is there purely to see fair play, that the child has access to the parents and is not told horrible stories by one parent about the other.
Nobody is put in a situation where it would be considered dangerous.'
Mrs Birtles stressed that the nannies - all of whom are on the agency's books - who take part in the service are 'aged around 30 and must have a mature attitude'. They are 'trained on a one-to-one basis' and the agency ensures they have proper insurance cover. She said that although the number of nannies taking part was 'still in single figures', the service was 'becoming more and more necessary' in the face of Britain's high divorce rate.
She said that no nannies had been asked to appear in court, but if they were, a member of her agency would accompany them.
