[Solved] Almost there

Not been on here for a while now but wanted to give an update.

As some may know it's been a he'll of a long journey which started in 2012. For those that don't know here's a brief background.

I have two elder children which I had an informal shared care arrangement with. I have a child who was born in 2012 with a separate partner which I have had very limited contact with since birth. My current partner has a 5 year old and as some will know was sent to live with father last year after my partner failed to comply with court orders. Last year a huge arguement happened between myself and the mother of my elder children which included threats from both sides. I received a prison sentance. My partner gave birth 2 weeks after my release. We had heavy social services involvement. I have had no contact with my elder children since then.

Been a bit of a mad year. We have had our lives interrogated by social services and Cafcass. Our new born child was made subject of a CP plan and I had to jump through so many hoops. I'm delighted today to say that social services withdrew their involvement with us completely.

My partner recently had her final hearing about her child and it was ordered that the child lives with us on a bi weekly basis following the extreme hostility we faced from the father and due to social services having significant concerns about his parenting.

I made an application to see my elder children in March. These proceedings were sort of consolidates with my other proceedings but the judge said these proceedings wouldn't start until my other proceedings finished.

So in July we finally got to a final hearing. The judge was presented with lots of positive reports about my parenting and the progress I've made. Shock of the day was the Cafcass officer changed position completely and now supported contact. This is despite previously saying my application should be dismissed and I be given the liberty to reapply in the future. The judge was extremely pleased with all my positive reports and was very clear it was her intention for contact to happen. However the other party then said that if contact happened then it would likely effect mothers mental health. So the judge being on the cautious side decided to order that mother had an updated psycriatric assessment with the Dr being asked if her mental health would deteriorate and if contact should happen. In the mean time it was ordered that the supervised contact sessions be set up with a local organisation prior to the next hearing so contact could start straight away if the Dr recommended it.

So was due back in court two weeks ago but that was delayed as surprise surprise mother didn't provide medical records for the Dr to complete report. This raisedmy suspicion of what she may be hiding. Finally got the report last week and it transpired that there had been a domestic violence incident between her and her current partner which required hospital treatment(didn't know this) so that's why she didn't want to provide her files. Anyways the great news is the Dr has recommended contact and says it is likely mothers mental health will suffer as to her it's about winning a personal battle between me and her but she painted a picture of a very good support network and that network will be able to support her through this.

The only downside is the local organisation has not arranged any contact sessions nor done a home visit nor has my child visited the organisation. The organisation have refused to start this work until the Dr recommended contact. Myself and the Cafcass officer have contacted them to tell them this but the person dealing with it is on leave(typical)

Anyways we are back in court on Wednesday and my solicitor is extremely confident that with two recommend ations for contact and a very recent positive reports from social services that contact should finally be ordered after all this time. I really don't want to get my hopes up but surely this is it now? Mother can't really fight much more. I always expect one final twist tho.

My elder children's mother has been ordered to attend this hearing also as the judge is to hear both hearings at the same time(oh yea both of these ex partners are now best friends along with my partners ex partner) In the last hearing about my elder children which was on the same day of my final hearing the judge made it very clear she is looking at reestablishing the shared care arrangement. However their mother is saying the children don't want to see me. However the last contact I had with them was when they sent me a drawing when I was inside which said they miss me and love me etc.social services were also involved with them because of concerns about mother and they did wishes and feelings work with the children and they said they miss me and want to see me. Social services recommended contact should happen. However their mother is saying now they realise they don't have to see me now they don't want to. I recently found out my mother has been seeing them and the first thing the children ask is about me and their brother who they have not met yet. So hopefully there is going to be progress with them despite the clear parental alienation.

Thanks for reading and to everyone else still going through similar how ever hard it seems never ever give up. There is a light at the end of the tunnel however dark it may currently be. Have faith in yourself.