[Solved] First Hearing Tuesday

Work has been getting in the way the last few hours, and I got my letter to the court from CAFCASS in the meantime. I'm going to take some time to go over it and have a think about how to adjust my position statement in the meantime.

bmwm-power and TashasHideousLaugh - thank you both, I may send a PM at some point this evening.

Hi there

Ask mojo if they have time. Mojo is fantastic with Position Statements and will make sure it's appropriate and concise. There can be a tendency from people to put too much info in the initial statement and you're not allowed to submit evidenced statements until given permission by the court.

Take the copies with you on the day, that's 100% fine to do that.

You can mention that you have had sight of the CAFCASS letter to court and what your position is in respect of their recommendations or any allegations the mother has made.

Good luck

Hi All,

Thought I'd blog a little and update everyone.

The mothers solicitor was running between us - mother and her partner opted to wait in a different room - and we managed to agree upon times and dates for contact with a date for overnights set.

A section 7 report was ordered which I wanted, which wasn't in the recommendations in the CAFCASS safeguarding letter. I was in conversation with a lady from CAFCASS and she was saying everything I wanted to hear...then there's a knock at the door and it turns out, she actually knows the mothers partner so couldn't carry on. The only other CAFCASS officer in the building was tied up with a district judge for the entire day. Waiting for them actually delayed matters. I arrived there at 9am and got out around half 2.

The judge went with her recommendation (I'd assume she would have made this even before speaking with me?) agreeing that there were several issues known to the local authority - a couple of pretty serious ones - which I was unaware of until they were detailed in the CAFCASS safeguarding letter. My point was that without me having brought this matter to court, I would never have known about them (one was as long as two and a half years ago) and that they and the issues around them warranted further investigation.

Basically I have to say I was pretty pleased overall and felt I coped with it, mostly thanks to the stickies and advice given in these threads. I didn't have to say an awful lot in front of the judge and I came out afterwards wishing I had said more, but I'm better prepared for the second hearing in March and for what to expect.

Anyone reading this who hasn't already been through this process, seriously, take as much of the advice from these forums on board as you can before you get there, it's so much help you wouldn't believe.

Thanks for sharing your experience and glad you've found the forum helpful.

I hope things go as well as they can while you're waiting for the S7. Good that the report has been ordered and that's what you wanted to happen.

Keep posting and we will do what we can to assist you!

Thanks for the update CJH, it's great to hear your experience was positive...it's a confidence booster that will help you going forward. As you say, you'll be better prepared mentally next time.

Sometimes it helps to use flash cards to help remember things you want to bring up, it's easy to forget and then afterwards wish you had said more!