[Solved] C79 Enforcement of contact order

Hi

If you didn't get an enforcement order when you took her back to court in 2013 then she isn't in breach, so you would fill in section 7a.

Keep it s brief as you can, something like you have stated here in bullet point form....something like this ~

Contact Order granted in April 2009.

The order was breached mid 2013 so I applied for an Enforcement Order and after CAFCASS mediation, the Contact Order was reinstated, with no further action taken.

Currently the Contact Order has been seriously breached yet again, communication has broken down completely and I am now being threatened with a Harassment Order when I try to make contact and pick the children up.

I have had regular contact with my children since our separation and we have a close relationship. I am now being told that the boys don't want to see me, which is out of the blue and out of character for them. For the last 2/3 years I have had the boys every weekend, from Friday at 4pm until Sunday at 7pm and sometimes until Monday when I drop them at school. We spend all school holidays together when their mother is working, school ring me if they are ill and I collect them. We are very close.

The change in attitude has coincided with the announcement of my marriage to my long term partner of 5 years and a move into a new home. The children get on well with her and her children.

Hi,
Have you any idea how long it takes from handing in c79 to getting to court.
Thanks

There's a time frame of 20 days for enforcement applications I think, although don't be surprised if it goes over that! This can happen if there a re a lot of cases waiting to be heard.

Thank you for this, it helps a lot. What would be the case if you're unable to fit it all in the box provided do you know?

David.

Hi David

If you can't condense it down to fit into the box, you can submit the rest of it on another sheet, making sure that you put your name and children's name(s) and dob for the courts reference.

Ideally you would put very basic information on the form, if there's more you want to say you can do that by preparing a brief position statesment to take with you to the hearing, having copies for the other party,CAFCASS and your own records.

Firstly, Thank You for getting back to me. I have now managed to fit it in the box provided ( at the fifth time of asking ).

Would you also happen to know - in the table of contents which i did for the original contact order, there was sections for things like statements and affidavits, expert reports etc. Will i still need to list that? even though there are none to put in as i'm simply applying for a enforcement order.

My aim is to resume contact with my child - i managed to get it to two overnight contacts per week, it took me four years, but coinciding with my new partner and i finding out we're having a child together, the contact with my child from the respondent has been effected.

Stopping completely for three months and then resuming but with stipulations like " you can see her, but only for four hours" or " once a fortnight is what i've discussed with her and she's agreed that's what she wants" - will it go against me the fact that i'm insisting it be what it was at the start of the year rather than accept this lesser revised offer of contact?

Infinite amounts of Thanks - this site has given me the strength and clarity i needed to assure me i'm on the right path.

Once contact has resumed with my child, it'd be cool to give back to the community and the other people on this site.

Thanks again,

David.

Hi David

I think the table of contents you are referring to is the bundle, I would wait until the court asks for it before providing it tbh. It might not be necessary, as you are representing yourself they will sometimes make allowances.

I'm so sorry that your child is being used in this way, hopefully you can get things back on track sooner rather than later.

If the existing order was vague and rather than defining contact, just left it to you and the mother to agree between you, you will have difficulty enforcing it. However if overnights were stipulated you will be on firmer ground.

Is your daughter old enough to make decision on visitation? Some mothers do try and pull this as a good reason to control contact, but it's not appropriate for a young child to be involved in such decision making.

If you have any further questions, please don't hesitate to ask.

The initial order stipulated i had to abstain from alcohol 48 hrs before contact, although i had no issues with alcohol so that didn't bother me. Also, i had to do 9 months worth of visits in a contact centre - then the contact order was revised at a different court to say i had completed all assessments and that the contact should move forward as follows.

Father to provide mobile so phone contact can take place once a week ( that hasn't happened in years), Then the last thing it states on the order is that contact should take place a minimum of once a week, then it ends with " any other contact as agreed between the parties". This was back in 2014, and at the beginning of this year I was seeing my daughter, overnight twice a week. In the holidays, i saw her even more. Her mum dropped her to me and collected her. Even when they moved to the next town, she still did those things.

Now all of a sudden, after months without contact, i'm being given hours here and there and today the offer was overnight contact, fortnightly, with me returning our daughter to the home - knowing full well i do not drive and my sciatica loooooves to ride public transport - not! - our daughter turned 11 in october this year and the reason i got for not seeing her was because i didn't text to ask, although, the week prior our daughter stated she wanted to stay with me on MY birthday, so she'd wake up on hers with me. ( mines the 23rd Oct, daughters is 24th Oct). I also have a text stating that i will be seeing her. Then when i messaged asking for contact from my partners phone, it had to be from MY personal phone, even though i had no texts/minutes. I'm not allowed to ask her infront of our daughter when i'll next be seeing her. Only last week, i was told to make all my requests in writing - which is me at the end of my tether, filing for an enforcement order.

She also likes to say that the court order doesn't apply anymore - but there is no date restriction and it is worded in a way that implies its for the forseable future, until our daughter makes her own mind up i assume and doesn't have to have her mums say so to see her father.

Whenever my daughters been assessed by CAFCASS or other childrens services since the order was granted - none of which was caused by my behaviour or because of me in any way, other than the very first one that CAFCASS carry out when a contact order is applied for, she was asked what she'd do with 3 wishes - this was at a time she had not seen me for nearly 2 years.

wish one - to be able to fly. wish two - to spend the night with daddy. wish three - that her room was made of chocolate.

I know this because of the subject access request i made last month, which also details some of the incidents in their home that her mother did not fully disclose to me - will it be worth me making copies of those documents? or will CAFCASS automatically include these, if they deem them relevant to the case?

Apologies for the tangent, but also, if someone reads this and it helps them feel less alone or more determined to continue their fight to be involved in their childs/childrens lives, then i'm not sorry.

again though, Many Thanks for your informative responses.

David.

Wow she's pretty controlling! All court orders concerning children are in place u til a child is 16, she can then decide for herself when she sees you.

As I suspected, your order is vague, but it appears she is in breach in respect of the weekly calls and the suspended contact for the last few months. Strictly speaking you want the existing order varied and a schedule of defined contact put in place that specifies days and times, so that there can be no moving of goalposts at a moments notice. Once you have made the enforcement application you can request this in your position statement, but you may have to make a further application for a new application within the existing enforcement case to have this happen...it's a suck it and see I'm afraid.

As far as the info that you requested, you can discuss it with Cafcass and voice your concerns when they come to do their safeguarding letter for the court. If there has been local authority involvement with the mother and your child, it should be contained in the safeguarding report anyway.

Once you initiate proceedings, it's likely that the offers of contact will be rescinded , but if you can get a much more defined contact schedule it will be worth it.

All. The best

Mojo,

Apologies for the delay in response - i met yesterday with the family intervention worker at the school and she has managed to get my daughters mother to agree to let me have overnights once a week - bearing in mind that i asked for that months ago, it's amazing when a professional says the same thing, the other parent pays attention.

I agreed to return my daughter to her home address turning what would be a ten minute car drive into a hour plus all round bus journey, eating into our contact - however, i just had to get this one contact to see my daughter and explain the next steps i'm taking in order to see her and to prepare her slightly for contact being rescinded as you say - that is very much how her mother operates.

After this weekend i shall be sending off the relevant applications to start proceedings.

Thank you so much for taking the time to give the advice and be a sound board, very much appreciated.

Have a good weekend.

David.