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Guys,
Try and cut this a short as possible, i split up with my ex 8 months ago after 4 years of domestic violence and verbal abuse. I had reported her to the police several times but never actually followed through and prosecuted her. When we split she retained majority care of our daughter and limited my access to 2 nights per week. she held me to ransom on money and told me if I did not comply with her ways she would pull access from me and i would never see my daughter again. she still to this day uses our daughter as a pawn! .... my ex then got together with a man who has just been released from prison for domestic violence against his ex partner and I am led to believe that this was done in the presence of his own daughter (resulting in a 3 year restraining order and no contact with his own daughter). At this point I had enough and refused to send my daughter back to her mothers. I then applied to the court for a non molestation order and we were also awarded a prohibited steps order to ensure no contact between my daughter and her new and very dangerous fella. we have since found out that the PSO has been broken on several occasions and i have now pulled access again and await a review from the court weather she can have supervised contact! My question is ---- the court now want a Section 7 Report and I would like to know what this entails ... do they visit your home etc......
the judge has seen in my favour on every subject so far but i am a little unsure of this report and its purpose and I don't like to be unprepared
thanks
steve
Hi Seasider,
Sorr to hear of your troubles. I think the S7 report is a good thing in your case as the judge will consider this in any decisions that he makes and it can hold a lot of sway.
Its not clear to me but do you have residency of your child?
Regards S7 reports, they are usually completed by CAFCASS or if the family is already known to social services then the local social services may write it.
Take a look at this link which may be helpful.
http://www.thecustodyminefield.com/flapp/menu.html#/flapp/CAFCASS.html
Regards,
Dave
No i dont hold a residency order because the case for child arrangements is still going through court and the S7 report is a critical part of that.
I do however hold majority interim care... so my daughter stays with me Friday through to Tuesday and her mother has her Tuesday till Friday morning or at least that was the arrangement .... I have recently found out that the PSO is being broken and i have therefore pulled custody from my ex to protect my daughters safety.
Just wondering what checks and procedures they go through when doing an S7
An S7 is basically a more in depth report Cafcass do for the court which looks into yours and your ex's history checks police records ect they may want to know about your ex's new partners convictions as they are purely focused on the welfare of the children and his history doesn't look that good at all.
They will conduct an interview with you and your ex on your own they may or may not do a home visit as they always harp on about how "busy" they are, have a read of my do's and don'ts guide at the top of the legal eagle section, they will usually side with the main carer but you can never be sure so be careful when dealing with them.
They will check social services records health workers ect too. to be honest it sounds like you're in a good position mate 🙂
Id second that you seem to be in a good position.
Doesnt sound like you have anything to worry about. Be positive with CAFCASS and dont slate your ex. Be child focused.
Regards,
Dave
Hi Steve
This is a carbon copy of my sons situation...he's had custody since 2011 and in 2012 she also took up with a dangerous ex convict who had been in prison for DV, kidnap, drugs a list as long as your arm. My son stopped contact but was forced to reinstate it as supervised by him at a play centre. as the SS decided she wasn't a risk to our boy, even though her other child is on the child protection register!
The case took 18 months, she was also convicted of having a cannabis farm in my grandsons bedroom which she got a suspended sentence for. She has unsupervised contact back, she sees him every Wednesday for tea and Saturday overnight ever fortnight.
We wanted indirect contact or supervised at a contact centre, but the court we have to use has a lot of bias in favour of mothers going on.
It sounds to me though that you have a good judge who is making the right decisions for you and your boy.
They are likely to visit you both at home and depending on the age of your child they may want to talk to her about their wishes and feelings. They may also want to observe you both with him to see how you interact, the SW on both occasions looked around the house.