[Solved] Advice would be appreciate re court c7 cafcass ss

Hi there

With all the cuts, it suits the SS for family members to facilitate, it's quite common for the courts to ask close family members to take on this role too.

I wouldn't worry about the C7 to be honest, it's not uncommon for this to happen if a party doesn't have legal representation.

As there have been serious safeguarding issues, it's completely normal for the court to ask for more detailed reports... With SS removing the child from the mother and insisting on supervised contact, I would have been worried if the court hadn't asked for an S7 to be honest.

Have you been asked to provide a statement? If so,you will usually be given a date for it to be in by. If someone is party to important information concerning the child or mother and they provide a witness statement to the court, they would be required to attend court at some point to be questioned on the contents of their statement.

If you are required to write a statement it's important to keep it concise and on point, there's a particular format that should be used too, if you require links to information just let us know.

If you are on limited income it might be possible to get legal aid for a solicitor....someone actually bought this up recently, social services should be able to give you more information about this.

All the best.

Here's a link to some info about legal aid

http://childlawadvice.org.uk/information-pages/legal-aid-if-your-child-is-at-risk-of-abuse/

Thank you. We own our house so even though not a great income we are not entitled to legal aid unfortunately. We are going to pay for a meeting with a solicitor for advice I think as a few things confusing us.

We understand the s7 being done and are pleased they are looking into everything and looking at all views etc just frustrating as school have said they won't stop mum and child saying hi in school playground etc as no magistrates papers or police papers saying she can't have contact other than supervised as agreed by ss as court stated at first hearing but no orders etc it means the child sees mum when we collect but also has seen her during lunch through a fence and been able to chat which is outside what we have been advised to allow and next court date not for 2 months. Feeling frustrated and not sure what we should do as seeing mum unsettled and leads to bad behaviour etc but equally don't want to cross the road and say to child u can't say hi feeling like we may need to move schools and get a temporary place. Thanks for your advice

The school are in a difficult situation to be fair.

You can try writing to the judge directly and advising that the mother is making contact in this way, which is contrary to the advice given by the court, and the school will not act without an order in place that stipulates the form any contact must take. Ask if it would be possible to return to court for new directions.

Be very careful about moving school at this time, as the child has been unsettled enough and the court won't take kindly to further disruption.

Does the child have a designated social worker? It might be a good idea to ask them for advice about this situation, especially if it is affecting the child negatively.

We didn't want to move schools as don't want to unsettle further but all these things and unplanned contact are unsettling as it is. The social worker should have visited but has asked to rearrange and have asked for advise and left messages and not heard back as yet.

Just feels like 1 step forward 10 back. We are trying to follow ss and court guidelines but feel it's hard when we 'bump into her and now school say they won't stop them speaking etc even though previously advised they would.

I would definitely try writing to the judge directly...it's worth a try and you might get it back to court much sooner, just to address this point.

Thank you didn't realise we could. So difficult we want them to build their relationship etc but equally needs to be in a 'safe and positive way.