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I'll try to keep this brief.
My son lives with me, he is 5, he hasnt had any contact whatsoever with his mother for 13 months now. Since our split almost two years ago I can count the amount of times shes seen him on one hand.
She put in a application just before Xmas not only for contact but also for my son to go and live with her!
At the 1st directions hearing she failed to turn up. Didnt inform the court either that she wouldnt be attending.
At the hearing it was decided that because of her non attendance one more directions hearing would be scheduled and also that social services were to file a very short letter saying they know child lives with me and they have no concerns and no involvement. That was that, pretty simple.
The court order came through today and it appears mother must have wrote to the court after the hearing as there was one line about how mother sent a letter saying why she felt unable to attend (they didnt share letter with me)
And it went on to say that the hearing scheduled for feb has been vacated and that a section 7 report has been ordered to explore where the child should live etc etc and that we are to write statements.
I am absolutely fuming about this as this isnt what was said on the day and something has clearly changed after that hearing. I walked away from that hearing feeling delighted due to her non attendance and based on what was said it seemed it could all be over at the next hearing if she didnt attend.
What can I do about this? Firstly had she of attended the 1st hearing id have argued that this needed to be sent to mediation as she had bypassed mediation by making up some [censored] I was going to flee the country with the child so a urgent hearing was ordered. A separate urgent hearing for that took place. And secondly I'm fuming that I'm going to have to write a statement, go through all the [censored] with Cafcass and she might not even turn up at that hearing.
Had they of mentioned this on the day I'd have raised my objections but there was no talk about this course of action at all, this has come after the hearing and I dont feel that's right.
hi,
oh yes, this is the circus of the family court. they did section 7 on me last year, april time. no safety issues. i just got out of court now, and they going to do another section 7 haha. over petty rubbish. they usually mess around when theres no cafcass officer at hearing too.oh well. just have to carry on jumping through hoops. atleast this time i am not paying lawyers, just walk in and chill out.
hi,
oh yes, this is the circus of the family court. they did section 7 on me last year, april time. no safety issues. i just got out of court now, and they going to do another section 7 haha. over petty rubbish. they usually mess around when theres no cafcass officer at hearing too.oh well. just have to carry on jumping through hoops. atleast this time i am not paying lawyers, just walk in and chill out.
Certainly is a circus. I'm baffled how they can come up with a completely different order than the one they said. I ain't taking this lying down, no way. I barely even spoke at the hearing due to them saying what the order would be so there was no need for me to speak. Had they said about all this I'd have given oral arguments about it. Feel like they have gone behind my back and I ain't happy about that.
I'd have certainly argued that as social services were involved until October, not because of me. He was only ever put on a plan because of her elder child being on one so he had to go on it too by default apparently, it then carried on because of the effect her not bothering with him had on him but eventually they decided I and them had done enough to try and make contact happen and child was now settled and doing well. I'd have argued that it should be them doing the section 7 reports due to their extensive history with mother and their familiarity with the family. I'd also have made a much bigger deal about her non attendance and tried to of got it thrown out there and then.
I was delighted that it looked like this might be wrapped up in Feb based on what the judges said. And now this hearing is set for end of may seems it may drag out through the whole of this year.
I found this whilst browsing the net today,
Section 7 report is allocated to the Local Authority if there is current involvement or has been involvement with a family in the recent past. Otherwise they are allocated to CAFCASS;
I'm going to try and seek some legal advice over the next few days because I dont think what has happened is right. Had the possibility of a S7 report been discussed at the last hearing, I'd have made submissions as to why I believe the Local Authority should carry out the report due to them being involved up until October, due to their extensive involvement with mother in the past including through all her other court proceedings and because they are familiar with the family and the entire history. Seems a bit absurd that they would want Cafcass to do it and start a fresh and having to familiarize themselves with the entire history.
I may be a little biased here because when they closed the case they were happy there was no welfare concerns, they were happy with the extreme progress my child has made in my care and they were happy that I had done all I could to facilitate contact so of course I'd rather they did it rather than someone who most likely hasnt got the time to familiarize themselves with the extensive history and whom will simply make decisions based on what they read, rather than what they have seen.
hi,
you could challenge all this, but I think you will just burn yourself out. let cafcass deal with it. as part of S7 they will talk to local social services anyway. they will interview you, and you can give detailed history about whats happened.
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