Welcome to the DAD.Info forum: Important Information – open to read:
Our forum aims to provide support and guidance where it can, however we may not always have the answer. The forum is not moderated 24 hours a day, so If you – or someone you know – are being harmed or in immediate danger of being harmed, call the police on 999.
Alternatively, if you are in crisis, please call Samaritans on 116 123.
If you are worried about you or someone you know is at risk of harm, please click here: How we can help
This may be a question some of you have asked in the past, but as with any court proceedings when CAFCASS and the family court are involved, it's important that you know as much information as CAFCASS and the court do about what the Police and Child Protection Services are likely to disclose to CAFCASS and then to the courts. Considering that many family court cases do involve domestic abuse, whether confirmed, admitted or purely alleged, it's important to know what is likely to be disclosed. Alleged, untrue cases can do just as much damage to your reputation in a family court as an acutal factual case does.
Firstly, if anyone here has ever been involved in requesting by yourself what the Police hold about you, does anyone here know of any difference between making the request based on the following;
My own personal interest
or
Family court proceedings
When you make a request for your own personal interest, you get to submit in writing, exactly what it is you want to know. I do not believe there is a cost to this.
When you make a request for family court proceedings, it is simply a 'Standard request form for the disclosure of police information' - you'll not get to ask anything else other than requesting information for the purproses of family court and there is a fee of around £100.
But I'm wondering what the difference is between the two, as with the first one, you should be able to request everything you need to know.
hi,
here is some info about how to request your info from Police:
https://ico.org.uk/your-data-matters/crime/#:~:text=In%20most%20cases%2C%20you%20should,hold%20records%20on%20local%20systems.&text=Although%20you%20do n't%20have,the%20information%20you%20have%20requested.
if your only interested in whether you have convictions or cautions (basic disclosure), you can just apply for a DBS check on yourself. costs £23
That wouldn't be enough to fight Cafcass off you and the family courts.
You'll need to do the lot, there's a few processes and I know how to do them, just wondered if anyone here knew the difference, for the purpose of family court, between the two I listed.
I think you will stress yourself out Unnecessarily. If you have ever been charged or cautioned with an offence then you would already know about those and they will be on your record. cafcass do the police checks as a routine when they get involved. Sometimes Cafcass can not get the latest info, as police have rules like a 12 month period must pass before they can release info. cafcass also check with local social services to check if they have had any kind of involvement.
Hi
DBS will not be sufficient as it will not give details of every police incident, report, call out etc that Cafcass often manage to obtain especially if there are concerns re children.
I would suggest you go down whichever route route gives you everything that the police hold if that is what you require.
The free option is a little limited as it is determined by your request, you could try asking them for everything and see what is returned, if you are not happy with that then try the other route..
Potentially you could speak to the police/ACRO and get some advice and discuss what it is you want and why...
Im surprised re the £100 cost as usual DPA cost is £10?
It's not stress and it's not unnecessary.
If you've just found out your ex was a compulsive liar and has made false accusations of domestic abuse, then you need to be armed with just as much information as CAFCASS and the courts do, before it gets to court.
A subject matter access request is usually free, unless for the purpose of family court for some reason, but an ACRO request and local Police force subject matter request should provide the same information, but is perhaps put together in another way and illustrated for court purposes.
The ACRO request will show what the police national computer holds, but an application should also be made to the local Police Force, as that's where CAFCASS go.
Welcome to the DAD.info forum.
We don’t like to set ‘rules’, but to make sure that you and the other dads are kept safe, we have some requests. When engaging with the forum, please be aware of the following:
- The forum is not moderated 24 hours per day.
- Many of the moderators do so on a voluntary basis. Whilst they may be able to provide some guidance, advice or support, they may not be able to deal with specifics.
- We are not an emergency crisis service so if you or someone else is in immediate danger, please call emergency services.
- If you are concerned about the safety of a child, please click here to find the support you can get for them (link to new page)
- If you are in crisis, please call Samaritans on 116 123. They are open 24 hours a day, 7 days per week.
We hope you find this forum a supportive environment and thank you for joining us.