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Hi There, please can anybody offer me some serious advice, i am so deperate, Yesterday i had to go to a meeting regarding my daughters safety she is only 17 months old, she is currently living with her mother and her mothers boyfriend, while at the meeting i received documents telling me that at the house where they live there has been violence between mother and the boyfriend, it was decided that my daughter along with her other 3 children have to go on the child protection list, which has really upset me and i dont want it to happen, i want to go for full custody but dont want to lose, the thought of my little baby being in that house where there has been trouble makes me feel sick, can anyone help me please, anything could help me, thanks chris, bury
Hi there,
So sorry to hear this, horrible situation for you to be in. You need to go through solicitors, and make an application to the court for custody. You will have a strong case due to the situation, and the court will want to act in the interests of safeguarding your daughter.
Make sure you go prepared to say anything about your own situation at home, and be prepared for a fight - the mother may try and make out she won't he safe with you either. So get as much evidence as you can - letters from professionals (employer, GP to say your health and mental health state is fine, landlord if you are renting to say your accommodation is stable, anything you can think of) also personal references from friends and relatives.
Make sure you can adapt your life to accommodate your daughter and evidence how - ie with work etc.
Go to see a solicitor for free half an hour advice - book in with a few locally and pick which one you think is best. I believe you should be able to get legal aid because domestic violence is involved, so take documents for social services confirming your daughter has been put on the child protection register. If not, ask for a cost breakdown.
If you absolutely can't get legal aid and can't afford a solicitor, you can do it yourself. You would normally have to go through mediation first but because of the situation you will be able to complete the form for the court and state the situation providing proof - meaning you can skip mediation and go straight to court.
If this is the case - put another post on here or reply and I will tell you how to do it, it's not as hard as you think! It will cost about £260 to submit the form to the court, and then you represent yourself and there will be no more costs.
https://www.gov.uk/legal-aid/domestic-abuse-or-violence this will tell you about legal aid - it depends if the evidence you get confirms your daughter is a victim of the violence or not.
Hopefully that helps as much as possible!
Joanne
Since Childrens Services are involved (I assume that's who called the meeting), then it would be worth speaking to them to see if they would support your application - that would strengthen your case immensely. It's also worth contacting these people asap http://www.frg.org.uk/
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