[Solved] First Hearing Dispute Resolution advice

As said above - you will raise this at court.

Put your position in to a brief statement as before and hand this in at the next hearing unless the court have asked for anything prior to the hearing.

You will both have to make your case to the court about the disagreed points.

Generally, the court will go with the Cafcass recommendation unless there is a reason not to.

Hi,
Quick thought - can I request further investigations by an independent social worker if I'm no happy about CAFCASS suggested way forward/ comments?

Hi Jazz,

from my dealing with court/cafcass, cafcass only answer to courts. when your hearings are over and you have a final order written up, they will write to you, that cafcass have no further role to play and case closed. And if you have any safeguarding issues then contact local social services. if your not happy with cafcass, you could make a complaint with them:

https://www.cafcass.gov.uk/contact-us/feedback-complaints-adults/

You can raise your concerns with the court and if necessary, challenge Cafcass at a final hearing. If the court feel it necessary they can order further reports. You can't just ask for a different report or social worker without following the proper procedures.

Well friends, my final court trial awaits. I've just discovered that I have to do this on my own, so I'm back here to vent my frustration at the whole process.
My court case has come down to 2 days a month! and that is what we are going to trial about and it's what my son does not want with his mother - 2 extra days a month. But if he doesn't want it, why should we agree to it?
Anyway, my son has stated that he doesn't want 'Anything to change' and nobody has listened, from the beginning to now. This process has been a joke from the beginning: CAFCASS made a random judgement based on assumption and nothing else, I visited court 3 times and each time they didn't have the right paperwork and ultimately, CAFCASS didn't turn up to court once. In my last visit to court, I had to show the judge a document on my phone because she didn't have it!
The biggest disappointment has got to be the fact that nobody listened to my son's wishes. He stated his wishes to stay (mostly) with me from the very beginning and yet a year on, we are still haggling over time he doesn't want to lose with me.
Any advice anyone? My sanity has taken quite a hit in the last year!!

hi,

how old is your child?
if you hate the mother, you should still encourage your child to spend time with both parents, unless ofcourse theres serious reason not to.

Wow! Thanks for this. I'll take a look 🙂

Hi, maybe I didn't write that very well. I don't have strong feelings about his mother, but what I really meant is that he strongly feels that HE doesn't want anything to change and that his feelings towards his mother will change if she pursues this.

Well, friends, my court date is tomorrow. Obviously now, it is on the phone, but I don't feel very hopeful of anyone listening to my side or my son's wishes. Any final advice?

hi,

i hope the hearing goes well for you. this remote/call hearings will make things more difficult i suspect. you can ask them to take your childs wishes/views into consideration. anything can happen i suppose. pls let us know how it went.

Hi everyone,
Just to report back on my final hearing. My ex somehow managed to get a solicitor, who cut me to shreds. I made some points, but most of the issues raised by CAFCASS were the ones considered.
In the end, the judge created a plan for my son which is 50/50 - as suspected really, but quite deflating as it's not what he really wanted.
So, it's all over.

My one remaining question is 'How long will this stay like this?' i.e. when can my son start making decisions about where he lives?

hi,

how old is your child now? usually from age 12 and above, is where courts will take his views seriously. court order expires when child is 18.