[Solved] Section 7- what do they ask?

hi,

they go off and do police checks on you and talk to social services to see if there's any concerns about the kids and parents. cafcass women went to my daughters school and spoke to headteacher about her, check attendance reports etc.

before covid chaos you would either go to their office for interview, or they visit your house. they are just doing phone calls now it seems. last year I went to their office for interview. she asked what the issues are. i tried to stay child focused and told her my only interest is to spend time with my children. told them i would like to spend weekends with kids, take them abroad on holiday etc. then the annoying parts was where she got me to answer to some allegations. i denied the false rubbish, but admitted to stuff that happened like me getting angry, throwing objects around and causing damage. told her those incidents happened a couple years ago.

i randomly told her that i completed a parenting plan (from cafcass site). she was surprised to hear that and asked me for it. so i recommend you complete it and mention it in interview. it shows your being child-focused, instead of wanting to slag off ex.

there was a time when kids asked me can they stay the night (only doing day visits). I told them to ask their mum. their mum went and cried to cafcass. so cafcass told me off lol. said i should not use kids to pass on messages to mother, as can cause divided loyalties and bring kids into conflict.

the report was very positive. the silly stuff i did about aggression, breaking stuff, she classed it as situational couple violence, and that its pretty common. she wrote that I pose no risk to kids, as the risk of violence/harm has now disappeared after the mother moved out. ex was not very happy about report :p

what your ex is moaning about sounds very petty, so your report should be straightforward. it's only tough if you have criminal convictions or you have drug/alcohol/mental health issues. they spoke to my 5 year old together with 2 year old at their office, asked them questions like do they like going to daddies house. made them draw pictures to find out their state of mind. cafcass will probably do video call with your kids.

As hard as it can be sometimes, don't slag off your ex. Just state all you want is access to your kids. Did you send messages about talking to your kids or was this verbally discussed? If you have messages proving you had to push for these calls rather than your ex allowing it, tell them you are happy to share these with them.

During COVID, i thankfully had that as an excuse to say why I could not see them, as tempting as it is for me to say it is because your mum is being awkward, i have not said anything along those lines. I tell my kids I am doing all i cane to sort it out. I have been seeing them recently, supervised by the in laws. When my girls ask me to walk them home, I tell them to ask their nan so it is not me who says no. Their nan did say no for whatever reason, but i felt it was important they heard it from her rather than me.

Cafcass may try and push your buttons, depending on what your ex tells them. Just stay calm in your responses.

make most of cafcass during section 7 process. i use them as mediator. like when ex was being an idiot, keeping kids away from me during start of lockdown. i asked cafcass to speak to mother as she refuses to allow video calls. so cafcass see for themselves how much of a buffoon one parent is.