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I finally have my final hearing next month, due to numerous delays and adjournments this is taking place well over a year after the S7 report was issued.
I was in disagreement with the S7 report. Anyway now we're at the stage where current contact arrangements are in excess of the court order. The interim court order was for supervised contact and did CAFCASS recommended it stayed supervised pending me going on a DVPP course.
Due to the time elapsed a lot has changed since this report was produced. The mother is no longer against contact and currently contact takes place unsupervised, no overnights yet but we're working towards that. We just seem unable to agree on a time frame so it looks like a final hearing is going to be required to get over the final hurdle.
My concern is that the S7 report recommends supervised contact. I would suggest this doesn't meet the welfare checklist as it doesn't reflect the current situation and the numerous positive changes that have taken place. Certainly following the report and reverting contact back to supervised would be harmful.
I worry that due to the time the case has been in the system (roughly a year and a half) and adjournment for a further S7 is not going to happen. Equally should a contested hearing go ahead I don't see how this is possible with such an out of date report.
The big changes are that contact now takes place unsupervised and goes extremely well. I managed to get on a DVPP without being ordered by the court. i'm half way through this with a glowing report. I have over 20 reports from the supervised contact all of which are also glowing. The respondent isn't anti contact anymore.
All said I still hope that we are able to reach an agreement before we go in.
My questions are;
1. Is it likely that the court would try to proceed with this S7 report or would it be deemed out of date as it in no way reflects on the current situation?
2. If the parties reach an agreement at the door but this agreement is in excess of what the S7 report recommended will the court listen to this?
I'm not expert on this by any means, but the courts do prefer to work with arrangements that are reached by agreement, so if the court can be persuaded that there is no danger to the child's wellbeing, I would hope (and it is just a hope) that they will look at the current situation.
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