[Solved] Advice on challenging a residential order

Hi there

A lot depends on the age of your child as to whether their wishes will be listened to, getting a change of residency is always difficult, unless there are serious safeguarding risks.

Your first step would be mediation, unless there are good reasons for an urgent application to court, in which case you could make an emergency application without the need to attempt mediation first.

Have you tried to talk to the mother about how unhappy your child is? It might be that you could agree to have him more often, does he spend overnights with you at the moment.

I won't lie, it's not easy to get a change of residency but it can be achieved, if there are strong enough reasons and if your child is over 11-12 years their wishes will carry more weight.

All the best

I agree with mojo, it does help if a child is older than around 12 years, but even then a court can be reluctant to change residency unless there is a good reason to do so. As an alternative, initially, is there anything you can do to support your child in the situation he/she is in? The only reason I ask is that if you try to change residency and lose at this stage, then it might make the situation worse, on the other hand if you can provide support to help them through the situation until a bit older, then that might be the best option for now.

then that might be the best option for now.
gclub บาคาร่า

I believe if you contact cafcas the can instruct a independent worker for your child and if he is of sound mind and is able to make that decision for himself then the court will decide in his favour. The independant worker will makes routine checks on yourself and would need some concerns that his needs are not being met by the other party, they wont remove a child from a parent were there are no concerns, so that has to be an issue.
normally 12 years and older but like in my case my child was 11 and they did ask for a section 7 report that required the opinion of the child.

CAFCASS can only be involved if there is an ongoing case involving the child.

Another option may be to apply for a Child Arrangements Order for shared residency, where your child lives with both of you, this way they aren't taking residency away from one parent, just giving it to both. This may help inasmuch as he could spend more time with you, this can work on a 50/50 basis, sharing time equally on a week on week rota. Although less common than the usual arrangements order, this type of order is made and can work.

The other option would be get your child to request to an appointment at court, he cant go directly as he is a minor, think the request has to come through cafcas/social services. Then the judge can give him permission to apply for a residency order himself if the judge deems him fit and mature enough to make that decision. Then once that is granted he can have a independent worker applied to his case and speak on his behalf in court. The decision has to be factual no just a case of materialistic things.

It's highly unlikely that a child would be given permission to make an application....generally its for the parents to generate an application for something like this. as said, CAFCASS only become involved once a court action is commenced and Social Services would advise a parent who was unhappy with current arrangements to apply to court themselves.

As there is a existing order that states who the child lives with, which is the mother, you can also apply for a variation of the existing order, the same C100 form is used for this, but mediation is still a requirement before an application can be made.

All the best