[Solved] How to write position/witness statement for court

Give a very brief history - we lived together, broke up etc.

Explain the problems - wont allow contact etc - try to cover any allegations you know of and give your version of events with evidence.

Explain why you feel the children should see you.

Explain the outcome you would like.

This is really simple - I mean my list above - but start that way - bullet point what you want to say and then build on it. We can help on this forum as you go along. The format is quite specific, I can provide a template if you like but need to run for the moment. Back later!

Hi There,

As said above, keep things brief, go into lots of detail, keep that for the court room. you should be looking at 2 sides of A4 paper if you can as any more probably won't get read properly by the court staff and judge.

GTTS

I think GTTS is referring to a basic position statement, as you’ve been asked to provide a statement it’s ok to give more detail and the two page rule doesn’t apply...
try to keep it within a readable length 5 - 12 pages.

It’s better to work from a template, as has been said, the format is quite specific. I’ll get some links for you.

https://childlawadvice.org.uk/witness-statements/

Witness statement template example

https://childlawadvice.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/Witness-Statement.pdf

Some further info about format

http://www.thecustodyminefield.com/flapp/statement.html

Hope that helps.

Thank you
Because I haven't had contact in 3 years it's going to be a difficult write up.
I stupidly told Cafcass the reason why I haven't seen them was because I've had a lot going on, this got slammed in my face in court.
Not sure how I can come back from it tbh.
I'm already painted a bad picture

We’ve known of other Dads that have not seen their children for years and have succeeeded, so don’t give up hope... all you can do is to keep at it and do your best.

Just be open, show remorse and regret, you were younger then, and didn’t realise the impact of your actions and have lived almost every day since with regret. We all make mistakes, to admit them shows that we want to put them right.

Three years is a long time, but in my opinion, it’s not insurmountable... better that you try and put things right and truly want to be in their lives... children’s love is unconditional and I’m pretty sure, that if you're given the opportunity, they will want you in their lives.

Perhaps you were suffering from depression at the time, and couldn’t face dealing with things, that at the time, seemed too hard to deal with.

When you’ve finished your statement, any of the Moderators would be happy to draft read for you, just send a private message.

Best of luck

It's just words. Just as you will see your words are twisted, you can untwist them.

"A lot going on" could mean many things - not just "other things were more important". You could say what you meant was that you were struggling with the whole situation.

Depending on the reasons for lack of contact I would include something along the lines of "I fully acknowledge my absence from the children's lives will have had an emotional impact on them and I do accept and understand it will take time to rebuild a relationship with them"

Whatever the reasons for not having seen the children, the court will be focused on how the children have been affected and how to re-establish contact in their best interests.

Don't forget to include a plan of what you would like to happen eventually in terms of contact and suggest a schedule of how to achieve that.