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Not sure if this is in the right category as its my first post, so apologies if it is!
Hi, I am the father to my daughter who lives with her mother. We have been through a nasty court battle which thankfully has allowed me to have regular contact with my daughter. We can spend every other weekend together and also every Wednesday. During the court process I was awarded the ability to collect my daughter from school on the days that I would have normally collected her from the family home. Since all this COVID 19 outbreak things have been a little different with her mother and she seemed to be more accommodating towards the contact that we have. She let me give our daughter her iPad so we could communicate, my daughter started to send me lovely text messages which I am sure were a benefit to her wellbeing but also a major benefit to my wellbeing as when I don’t have her i am completely alone and isolated. It has become clear that her mother has now stopped her using her iPad so we can no longer freely communicate. I am unsure of how to deal with this situation but using simple logic I assumed that her playing online games with me is no different than her playing online games with her friends (game example Roblox). With our time being shared on alternate weekends I assumed that any time outside of this would be regarded as time that we could still contact each other, after all she spends a lot more time with her mother than she does with me. I feel a constant battle regarding what’s right for my daughter with her mother. If I was able to (work wise) I would love to have 50/50 shared care therefore spending a lot more time with my daughter. My question is this, is there any law stopping my daughter from contacting me outside of my allocated contact periods? and can her mother stop this contact from happening? I hope this makes sense to someone. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
hi,
if your ex still allowing you to spend weekends with your child during this lockdown, then you are very fortunate.
if your court order states that mother must allow phone contact, and she is not allowing this, then she is in breach, and you could apply to court to have the order enforced.
As far as I know, there is no law stopping you from having any contact outside of your court order schedule. its all down to you and your ex, and whether you can reach agreements to spend extra time with your child, in person or on phone.
I agree with Bill - court orders set out minimum contact levels (compelling the PWC to make the child available, not the NRP to actually attend - not relevant in your case), and unless there are any safeguarding issues, then any additional contact you can agree is fine, and there is certainly nothing that says your daughter can't contact you whenever she likes.
Apologies Bill!! Read your reply then forgot to sign in and reply officially to say thank you for your very speedy response, not used to this forum lark and being honest it’s the first site like this i have signed up to. Your advice is very much appreciated!!
Also thank you actd, it does cement my thoughts that the current order is a minimum and that if we decide as parents to work on contact in addition to the order it is totally fine. It is a struggle making my ex-partner understand that the order is a 'Minimum' requirement though...
On a plus note I will be collecting my daughter at 5pm today for my half term contact, so thankful that she hasn't stopped this.
Thank you very much for your replies! Stay safe and stay well... 🙂
hi mikey,
am happy for you. i have not had any contact with kids for over 3 weeks. only now the ex has come to her senses (after i pestered cafcass and her family) and is allowing video call this weekend. think she doing it more to save face, as it will look dreadful on her at court, at the end of this month.
she first told me i need to give a phone and pay for data. :woohoo:
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