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Can a resident parent refuse to allow a child to be psychologically assessed? The reason I ask is that the resident parent stopped all contact with the child last year when the relationship between the child and her non-res parent was good. A recent CAFCASS report has raised a number of serious concerns about the mental welfare of the child including stating that they are concerned that the child is "vulnerable" due to severe overt parental alienation by the resident parent and her unresolved mental health issues all of which has led to anxiety and panic attacks in the child.
My fiance is planning on asking for this at his next hearing but has received correspondence from the other side stating that they will not agree to it. Can a judge force this on the resident parent and if so how likely is this to happen?
Also, if the assessment goes ahead and confirms ours and CAFCASS' suspicions, how likely are we to get protective separation of the child from her resident parent. We are not hoping for residency as, due to the severity of the parental alienation, this is likely to be harmful to the child but would temporary foster care while the child undergoes some form of counselling be possible?
The judge can order these assessments to be done and if CAFCASS has raised concerns it might be a good idea for your partner to talk to them about recommending a psychological assessment at the next hearing. The judge will nearly always follow a CAFCASS re ommendation.
Courts are unpredictable and if an assessment is carried out it will take a number of weeks to get done. It really depends on the judge, they could remove the child but I would be loathe to push for fostering....that would be by far the most damaging for the child. If removal was ordered then she should be placed with you and I would hope you could accommodate that. Children are far more resilient than we give them credit for and if she has suffered PA then the best course of action would be to reinstate her relationship with the alienated parent and provide counselling for her.
There's. recognised expert in this field and her name is Karen Woodall, she can be contacted through her blog site and it might be worth contacting her...she's very busy but I'm. Sure she would correspond with you and give some pointers.
karenwoodall.wordpress.com/
Thank you Nannyjane! I'll email Ms Woodall.
We could certainly accommodate the child staying with us - her room has been ready for her and her sisters but untouched for over a year now π . We are just worried as her teacher and CAFCASS report that she currently has an extreme fear that her mother will harm herself if she isn't there and she has told her teacher that she thinks her father will try and take her away. It's so hard to know what to do.
The next hearing is on Thursday - I'll let you know how we get on.
Thanks again for your help.
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