[Solved] I RECORDED MY INTERVIEW WITH CAFCASS BUT....?

Hello everyone,

I have a few questions to ask, but first, let me give you a brief insight of my case.

A social worker dealing with my case, advised me to go to court in connection with my daughter’s refusal to see me due to being brain washed by two adults, who should know better, than to talk in front of a small child. I took her advice, found a family solicitor and filed for Shared Parental Responsibility - then the long process of dealing with the legal system commenced and at my first court hearing, my case was referred to CAFCASS, thereby, my solicitor had to take a back seat.

Once CAFCASS becomes involved, it is you against them, and in my case, the long drawn out email communication to the CAFCASS workers, in the quest to see my daughter began! Everything relating to my case concerning my daughter has been a total disaster. Despite a court order given to me, for an urgent meeting between my child, and myself, CAFCASS, unbelievably failed to arrange it for 6 months. When the meeting did take place it was already too late, my daughter's brain had been poisoned to such an extent that she refused to speak to me and was gone in just 2 minutes. However, my meeting with my Cafcass caseworker lasted over 3 hours. This case worker agreed with everything I said about how my daughter was being badly influenced by her mother and grandmother, to such an extent that she was believing all the derogatory and negative remarks they made about me, in front of her; thus thinking of me as a mean daddy.

This CAFCASS caseworker had already met with my daughter at her home and school and confirmed - just as the social worker had earlier - that my little girl was listening to adult conversation; where I was being constantly badmouthed! The caseworker highlighted how damaging this was for the child, stating that they were role modelling negative hostile behaviour, towards me, and that meant my little girl was picking up and absorbing everything she heard - and then similarly, believing and repeating it all. She said, that the court would be interested, whether from mum’s perspective, this was deliberate.

She has also said; and I quote -

"This behaviour becomes very deeply ingrained in the child and because of the six months gap, she had six months of listening to them saying negative things about you, reinforcing that belief to the point where she is saying it as it is her own belief. That is my analysis of what is happening and that is what I will be saying to the court."

She said she even wanted to take my case to a higher court, and that she would seek advice on this. She said that she would write a very strongly worded account in her section 7 report, of what was happening to my daughter by her mother and grandmother and of their hostile behaviour towards me.
The next day I sent her an email saying that I agree for it to go to a higher court and I sent her a few links I had researched re Child Brainwashing. She never replied to this email, and further down the line when I made my official complaint to CAFCASS, she denied even receiving this email!
The section 7 report come out just before the final hearing - it was several weeks late! - and I was shocked to see that very little of what she said to me at our meeting were included in her report. Once again, I emailed her to ask why she had failed to mention all the relevant information and concerns about my child and if she would be saying all she said she would, in court - low and behold; again, I never received a reply.

Before the final court hearing I was to have a meeting with the Cafcass worker and my daughter's mothers’ solicitor. In the best interest of my daughter, they convinced me not to file for Parent Responsibility (this is what I originally went for when I sought legal advice, and which cost me near on £3,000 in solicitors fees) and to accept, Indirect Contact, by means of a monthly letter for one year. The reasoning was that as my little girl was refusing all contact with me; this was all I could hope for, for the time being. I agreed, of course, with a heavy heart. Remember I was still hoping that my CAFCASS caseworker would speak up for me and tell the judge about her concerns for my daughter. You won’t believe what happened in the court room - she said absolutely NOTHING - and although prior to the hearing, the magistrates had a copy of all the things that she had said to me - I doubt if he even read my bundle!
I ask the question. - Is a person who is supposed to be working for the best interest of the child, and knowing and witnessing that damage had been done to a child’s mind, say nothing in court? Should these heartless, incompetent people even be responsible for the safe welfare of our children?
I started an official complaint to CAFCASS, even though I had read a lot on the internet from people who have made complaints and sadly, nothing was achieved. But what else could I do. I thought it was the only way for this caseworker to be investigated and made accountable for her actions (or should I say, lack of them!) In my complaint, I explained everything from the beginning, and what had gone on since my first court hearing, when a Court Order for, 'Urgent consideration to see my daughter before Christmas, was granted. I explained how the CAFCASS team cocked it up and the manager failed to even reply to my emails begging to see my daughter before Xmas. I finally heard back from him in January of the next year, with a feeble excuse of being on annual leave and a breakdown of communication?? In one of my emails, I asked him how he and the other members of the CAFCASS team - who had children of their own – would feel not seeing their children at Christmas! I said it had broken my heart not being with her at this special time of the year, and that we had always spent every festive season together with her whole family. We always decorated the tree together and put food out for Santa & his reindeer.

Shockingly, when I received the outcome of my investigation, I was told by Mike Lisser that the caseworker involved could only put on her report what she had observed and concluded – what a joke! Moreover, because I had agreed to the indirect contact with my child, she was not therefore required to give evidence.

So that made it ok for her to keep her mouth shut and say nothing – I’m sure if she had asked the judge, he would have listened because it was an informal family court. Instead, there was no mention of any child concerns, which I afore mentioned.
Mr Lisser said in his conclusion to my complaint, that he had interviewed my caseworker and more or less told me that all I had put in my complaint about what she had said during our 3 hour meeting, she denied. He went on to address my other list of complaint issues, with apologies of the errors made etc and that was as far as he was willing to go.
What he and the court do not know yet, is that I recorded my meeting with this Cafcass worker. I have extracted a selection of the dialogue, word by word from the recording, which implicates this CAFCASS caseworker and proves she is a barefaced liar!
CAFCASS refused my request to reallocate my case to a different caseworker because her conduct was not found be inappropriate; in other words, the investigation officer just believed her denials.

All I am entitled to is a 1 year Indirect Contact – I can only send one letter every month to the SAME Cafcass worker, who is supposed to meet with my daughter on a regular basis to read my correspondence with her. If, and only if my daughter wants to reply, the caseworker will help her, (which is if she can even be bothered to encourage her!) My daughter does not have to respond, and this is where the caseworker needs to coax her, and I would have thought, try to get my daughter to see me in a more favourable light. This caseworker has seen numerous videos & photos of many of our fun times spent together, so she should know how to cajole my child to respond to her father.
I have just sent my third monthly letter, and so far, I have had NO replies, not even from the caseworker who is supposed to GUIDE me and give me feedback from their meetings. I guess she’s not really trying her hardest to encourage my little girl - more like she is getting back at me for making the complaint against her and CAFCASS. Even though there are stipulations in the Court Order as to what she is supposed to do – She has not complied!

I have no idea where to go from here, after my complaint, where nothing was done. It certainly never moved to number 2 in the complaint procedure, and as Dave Darby highlighted, very few do!
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/can_you_prove#comment-48537

I read about all the people going to their local MP and so on, but many people have tried and failed. Someone said that if this happened in America, I would definitely get help, and those two women held responsible. However, does anyone know if anything can be done in the UK and if there are laws to punish or impose strict penalties for a mother if she keeps telling her child bad, untrue things about the father and not encouraging that child not to see him?
It could be said that my case is somewhat complicated and unique, but on the other hand, the key for resolving it, lies with the mother of my daughter; who is the key figure here. If she had wanted, she could have resolved it at the outset by inviting me to visit, so we could have all sat down and worked it out. However, can the law system make her do this now? Who can I approach to listen to my recording evidence?
Family law in this country is a joke, cases involving children should go before a proper-trained judge, who will hear all the evidence and act accordingly. I had a solicitor on the first two hearings, but opted out on the final one, as the cost was too high (he charged 220 plus vat. In my case, there would have been little he could have done anyway, as the law gives all the powers and puts all decisions concerning children in the hands of the CAFCASS workers. If they break a court order; which is what happened in my case, there are no sanctions and absolutely nothing is ever done to CAFCASS
I really need advice regarding the recording I made – who should I approach? Of course, even if it could be used as evidence or ammunition to proving my caseworker lied – it will probably be deemed not suitable because they will say that I could have digitally tampered with it? This was a three-hour recording of a CAFCASS caseworker speaking about her horror of how a child was, in her words, being so badly treated; yet absolutely nothing can be done in this country. In America, this is a form of Child Brainwashing and parents are prosecuted by the courts for it.

So…where do I go from now…?...

Many thanks for your time.

Kris