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Hey, looking for some advice.
October 2017 myself and my two children's mother obtained a Child Arrangement Order.
Their Mother has had drink and mental health issues in the past, and had to prove herself to be on top of these issues before they would allow her shared access.
Since October, more notably this year there has been countless causes for me to be concerned when the children are in her car. Social Services have provided two reports one in January and one in March, the latter was after she allowed my son to travel in the foot well of a car, as there was not enough room, he had a coat placed over him and was told not to get up as the police would see. Social Services visited the children and they were articulate with their report on the incident. The report finished that their Mother had discredited them while in their company, it was also noted that my daughter had mentioned that her Mother was drinking alcohol, again this was denied by Mother initially. Then she claimed to only have one drink. Social reported that this could cause both children emotional growth issues and not being able to trust their Mother. My Daughter had also mentioned that her one wish is to live with Daddy.
Recently their has been concerns of neglect, and safety, due to the children being spotted by myself on a road while in the care of their mother, alongside being found at a park in the evening on their own, my son without footwear. Along with more drink issues, which are backed up by two witnesses. An issue regarding drugs, again reported by another witness. I have found bruising on my son, and he and his sister claim that Mother smacks him as punishment. Further to this, my son and daughter are allowed out into the cul-de-sac to play, unsupervised. My son has been causing damage to cars, again whilst in the care of their Mother. My children are 7 and 4 years old.
I am in process of applying to the court for a prohibited steps order, I have heard that there is an emergency prohibited steps order available, but cannot seem to find much about this. I am stopping contact with Mother immediately, and need something in place to stop her being able to collect the children from school and if she does, then to be able to get them back to my care. I am also applying for another Child Arrangement Order, in hope to restrict the time they have to go to their Mothers at least, my ideal situation is that the children are with me full time.
Any help, advice, words of wisdom would be gratefully appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
Hi there
I’m sorry for the slight delay in responding to your post.
You can apply for an urgent application using the same C100 form. If you look on the first page there’s a section on the left hand side called “Additional information required” you would need to mark the second box where it asks “is an urgent hearing or without notice hearing required?”
Without notice means that you are asking the court to hear your case without the mother being informed until after. What usually happens is the court would make an interim order at the first hearing and then set another date for a hearing where the mother would be contacted and asked to attend. It would probably be a good idea to ask for this too.
Also on the first page is a section called “Concerns about risk of harm” it would be helpful to complete this section too and submit form C1a with the C100 to tell the court about the risks of harm.
As you have an existing order, you would need to apply for a variation, to have the children live with you and for contact time with the mother adjusted to take account of the risks of harm to them.
To apply for a variation you would also do that on the same C100 form, in the section marked “Nature of application” again on the first page. You would mark the box for a Prohibited Steps Order and in the larger box you would say that you are applying to have an existing CAO varied for the children to live with you.
With the reports/involvement from Social Services you should get a fair and full hearing, I would suggest that you speak with the Social Worker and ask for their support with your application.
It would also be helpful to the court if you prepare a brief two page position statement to take with you to the hearing, just giving a little more detail about the background, your concerns and what you would like the court to do.
It’s advisable to take the completed forms into the court in person and speak to the court desk to impress upon them the need to get in front of a judge as quickly as possible, sometimes they may get you in front of a judge there and then, or you may have to wait a couple of days or so... It depends how seriously they judge the risks to the children.
Please do let us know how you get on.
Good luck
I applied yesterday, for Prohibited Steps Order, and a Child Arrangements Order.
I went into court today to pay for the applications, and was lucky enough to see a judge. The judge granted the PSO, and have the next hearing on Monday 3rd July.
I sent the application via email, as the local court is a far while away. However, all the evidence which I sent to back up my C1A form, wasn't printed. Any idea's on how to add more evidence, or how to get it admitted for a judge to consider?
...thats a good first step. With your hearing in a matter of days, you could prepare a brief two page position statement to take with you to the hearing, just to tell the court about the situation in a little more detail.
If you want to file evidence, you can write to the court and ask for permission to do so, although if they are busy they might not get back to you in time. Otherwise you can take the evidence with you to the hearing and ask the judge if you can file it as it relevant to your case.
The judge may allow it, or might tell you to wait and submit it with a statement of case later in the case.
All the best
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