Welcome to the DAD.Info forum: Important Information – open to read:
Our forum aims to provide support and guidance where it can, however we may not always have the answer. The forum is not moderated 24 hours a day, so If you – or someone you know – are being harmed or in immediate danger of being harmed, call the police on 999.
Alternatively, if you are in crisis, please call Samaritans on 116 123.
If you are worried about you or someone you know is at risk of harm, please click here: How we can help
I attended an FHDRA yesterday and was given at the last minute a summary of the phone calls that cafcass had with both myself and my ex partner.
During the telephone call which lasted for nearly two hours, I was told that the letter to the court would be a brief summary of the conversation. After reading the letter I noticed that there were several discrepancies, errors and also things that had been missed out entirely.
The cafcass officer recommended that the matter be dealt with by a district judge, that the judge decides if a section 7 report is to be completed by cafcass,
In the hearing I was given permission to submit recorded evidence and was advised that both parties should provide a preliminary witness statement within two weeks in preparation for the next hearing which would be on 18th October.
So here is my question...
Do I need to contest the discrepancies in the letter to the court made by cafcass at this stage? If so, how do I do this? Should I write to the courts, to cafcass, or should I (as suggested here... http://www.thecustodyminefield.com/flapp/cafcass.html) cross examine the cafcass officer in court? If so, how do I request this from the judge?
Or should it wait until a section 7 report has been ordered and completed? What do I do if the judge deems a section 7 report is not necessary? Do I ignore this preliminary letter and the errors contained within?
Finally, I have raised safeguarding concerns that I believe should involve social services. This was not one of the recommendations made by cafcass and was not brought up in the FHDRA. Is this something that a section 7 would cover or do I need to request that my concerns be addressed?
I had a few errors in a CAFCASS letter to court and then again in a section 7 report. both times i wrote to CAFCASS complaints team and sent a letter to court to the judge pointing out the errors, both times CAFCASS sent a letter to court to confirm the errors.
I also was able to question the CAFCASS officer in court about her abhorrent S7 recommendations of indirect contact only where there were no safeguarding issues or risk present and direct contact had been happening prior to me applying to court for further enforcement and variation to contact order.
Be wary of CAFCASS no consistency and some / most i hear take only the view of the resident parent…mother in my case and refuse to see the previous 5yrs of history!
Thank you for the advice - I've just sent an email to cafcass detailing the discrepancies and sent a copy to the courts.
I had a few errors in a CAFCASS letter to court and then again in a section 7 report. both times i wrote to CAFCASS complaints team and sent a letter to court to the judge pointing out the errors, both times CAFCASS sent a letter to court to confirm the errors.
I also was able to question the CAFCASS officer in court about her abhorrent S7 recommendations of indirect contact only where there were no safeguarding issues or risk present and direct contact had been happening prior to me applying to court for further enforcement and variation to contact order.
Be wary of CAFCASS no consistency and some / most i hear take only the view of the resident parent…mother in my case and refuse to see the previous 5yrs of history!
Not always, the found very much in my favour recently.
Sorry to hear you had a bad experience with CAFCASS. What was the final outcome from you challenging them?
I still haven't had a response yet. There was a detailed list of 25 things they got wrong or omitted altogether. They couldn't even get what type of application I was applying for despite having told her this twice on the phone. How is this possible? These are the people who are supposed to advise the courts on how they believe our lives and the lives of our children are supposed to change.
Their recommendations also for me were insulting, despite the fact that there was no supporting evidence to prove my ex's vicious allegations. What makes things worse is that I've had to question cafcass which is not going to endear them to me. But should I just ignore their errors?
They are supposed to be impartial, to judge each case on evidence, not hearsay or allegations that have yet to be proven one way or another. I can only hope the courts take notice of the email and act accordingly. If they don't I have no hope of justice.
Not always, the found very much in my favour recently.
Sorry to hear you had a bad experience with CAFCASS. What was the final outcome from you challenging them?
Having challenged the S7 recommendations i found the judge jsut went ahead with what was said by this one cafcass officer....that's despite contradictions in her S7 and her not reviewing the case history or previous S7's.
hence why i said no consistency
I wouldn't think you would hear anything much for a week or two.....
I wouldn't think you would hear anything much for a week or two.....
I also do the same as you in the north east, it's my daughters 8the birthday 7 of which I have been stolen from us,but I still fight for others and to date 16 mums dad's ect are seeing the children ect, I am getting ready to build my case against cascaff, so I be reading as much as I can,it's always harder dealing with you own case, people ask why do I bother when I don't see my own kids, simple because I car and have a heart to add knowledge is power well so I hope soo
Welcome to the DAD.info forum.
We don’t like to set ‘rules’, but to make sure that you and the other dads are kept safe, we have some requests. When engaging with the forum, please be aware of the following:
- The forum is not moderated 24 hours per day.
- Many of the moderators do so on a voluntary basis. Whilst they may be able to provide some guidance, advice or support, they may not be able to deal with specifics.
- We are not an emergency crisis service so if you or someone else is in immediate danger, please call emergency services.
- If you are concerned about the safety of a child, please click here to find the support you can get for them (link to new page)
- If you are in crisis, please call Samaritans on 116 123. They are open 24 hours a day, 7 days per week.
We hope you find this forum a supportive environment and thank you for joining us.