[Solved] Review Hearing on Tuesday

I can't help with the proceedings, but it does seem to me that you should be complaining about Cafcass - not doing their job because they haven't the time is not acceptable in any way.

ive got to be careful mate as the dragon witch cafcass Woman at the court is a real man hater and she won't have anything said against her beloved officers she could really screw things up for me on Tuesday if I complain so I'm going to do it diplomatically to the Judge and say how can the S7 be valid with no observations and refer to a couple of case studies, like I said I've got recommended contact for my Daughter I've just got to fight like a dog for her sister now

Slim,

Good luck for tuesday - hopefully things will end well.

You have a good position statement that highlights cafcass' failings during the S7 report in regards to their evidence based analysis, which in fact is not evidence based, but speculation and guesswork. Also it slams home the point that they did not observe you with the kids, and that for this reason the report has limited value in determining the contact you get. Case law reinforces this position further.

Print 4 copies of the statement for court. Give the usher two copies when you arrive at court - one for the judge, and one for ex/solicitor. Keep one for yourself, and have the other as backup just in case.

As for proceedings, from my own case, I would say that the cafcass officer is probably mindful of your ex's position regarding contact, when she made her recommendations. By this I mean, hopefully she has spoken to your ex about contact at a contact centre, and your ex is happy to proceed on this basis. If that is the case, that is good, because you could very well avoid a contested hearing.

On the day of court, you and your ex will meet separately withe cafcass officer, and attempt to come to an agreement regarding contact. If you are happy with the recommendations on the table, and your ex is also, you could agree to move forward with that plan, and as long as the judge agrees with it, you will get a contact order to that effect.

If your ex just point blank refuses you any contact at all, then unless the judge orders it, which is unlikely at a review hearing, then you could face the possibility of a contested hearing. In my case, we had to file statements of evidence to support our applications. From my 2nd directions hearing to the final hearing, there was a gap of around 4 months, so expect something similar.

The contested hearing is your opportunity to cross exam cafcass, cross examine your ex and expose the weaknesses of their arguments. Your statement will be geared around making your case for contact to appear strong to the judge.

I'm very keen to know how things go tuesday. You have prepared well for it, and I hope it all goes well, and you can move forward with contact with your own daughter and stepdaughter.

Simon.

Excellent Simon many thanks for your help and advice once again, if it does go to a contested hearing in 4 months will I be able to get interim contact as Cafcass have already recommended it?

Say for example you wanted unsupervised contact as bare minimum but mum disputed that, you could ask for interim contact until the matter was decided. The interim contact would be supervised.

In your case cafcass are saying go ahead with supervised contact asap, so asking for interim supervised contact would not make sense.

I don't know how a judge would react if your ex refused to follow cafcass recommendations. If your ex disputes supervised contact, and the judge refuses to order it without hearing evidence, then you could end up with a final hearing.

This is why I really hope your ex and cafcass have spoken and your ex then will agree with supervised contact. The difficulty is, if you get supervised contact at this hearing with your biological daughter, you have to decide how far you want to fight for your step daughter. That could be the issue that will not be resolved without a final hearing.

So in that case, you could ask for interim contact with your step daughter, but like I say, with her disability the court may be extremely cautious with her, and not want to do anything without properly considering her situation and determining how contact would impact upon her.

You have asked for contact with her in your statement, and given your reasons why you feel that will benefit her. They are all 100% child focused and common sense reasons, so hopefully the judge will agree and try to help the matter forward. At the end of the day there is no harm in asking for contact with her while a more permanent arrangement is worked towards.

Simon

Excellent yes that clears things up a little it just seems strange that they support contact with my Daughter for 3-4 months then unsupervised after recommending no contact with her sister forever I can't understand how it will work when I do get contact with my Daughter then decide to take her and her 3 cousins away on holiday or have them round my house every week then have to leave her out it's madness.

The thing is she's only got Spinabifida she's not completely disabled they've made out she is in constant use of a wheel chair and I've got 10 photo's 2 from every year of her life walking along holding my hand with a huge smile on her face lol

I've spoken with my ex's sister today and she said my ex is mellowing a little she also said carry on fighting for her sister too I'm hoping we actually get a judge this time and not a troop of completely clueless magistrates with no idea about family law the last bunch just went off whatever the court cafcass woman said they were not interested in what I had to say the ex the clerk of the court no one.

You are right slim, it is total madness. There's a poor girl, who could find herself excluded from things....

But consider this, and look at the bigger picture, through making contact with your biological daughter a success, and showing your ex that your daughter is in good hands with you, your ex may allow your step daughter to eventually participate in contact.

It's a good sign that she is mellowing. That's why I said to keep conflict to an absolute minimum and build bridges where you can. Because even if the court are reluctant to order contact with your step daughter, you may find your ex sees that your stepdaughter is missing out, and actually decides to let her come to contact with her sister and cousins.

It's definitely a delicate situation. And certainly more than one way to skin a cat here. I have a feeling that through making contact with your own daughter a success, contact with the stepdaughter may well follow soon after. It's the path with least conflict. If you can resolve this without a contested hearing, they do so, because contested hearings can get ugly. Thankfully me and my ex managed to avoid it at the last minute, and our relationships has got better for it. I'm hoping better contact will result from it too.

Like I say though, it doesn't hurt to make your ex aware and cafcass aware that you care deeply about your stepdaughter and don't want her to be left out of things. I think it counts for a lot that although not biologically related, you want to step up to the plate and be her dad, unlike that good for nothing guy that wants nothing to do with her. He should be ashamed of himself. He is a party to proceedings and yet still can't be bothered.

You are a good bloke slim. And I hope karma rewards you and those two girls.

Simon.

That scum bag father of hers actually said I hope she dies when I was giving him a lift to the hospital because she was disabled he only ever used my ex for her money as she used to do really well for herself, he got her to pay his rent for him then he still didn't pay and literally left her pregnant on the street and sorted a place for himself he stole all her maternity pay from when she left her job too.

He has seen his Girl once or twice in 6 years and she still thinks the world of him I have pleaded with him to see her almost on a weekly basis as I used to dj near where he dj'ed he has never spent a penny on her and the couple of times he did see her he was doing it to look good infront of his girlfriend the only reason I haven't smashed him is because its my daughters sisters dad and I'd feel to guilty on her.

He promised he would come round last christmas and my ex told her he was coming he let her down didn't show up and left her crying for her daddy at the window. I was amazed he turned up to court and got made party to proceedings but it just fired me up even more for that kid she deserves me in her life as I'm the only one who has loved her from the second she was born.

I've got a feeling her wont turn up to this hearing as Cafcass can't get hold of him and he will know the allegations were rubbish from my ex as if I'd ever hurt her I've never hit anyone on defended myself when I've been started on.

If he doesn't show up I will actually feel sorry for my ex as he will of screwed her over again I was hoping that because he was made party to the proceedings he may actually see his daughter, if he does show up he has overstepped the mark with me and I will have marked his card for life.

Yeah I'm going to accept the contact with my daughter but really politely go to town on how much her sister means to me I've said from the start I'm going to fight for both Girls my ex's sister has told me she's been disruptive at school since she's stopped seeing me and I've heard she has been punching and kicking other children and pushing people away when they get close as thats what her mum does to her the poor thing she will think its normal.

I'm really looking forward to tuesday now its very empowering fighting for what I believe in 🙂

Hi Slim,

I hope it goes well for you. Try and rest and dose up on vitamins, paracetamol etc as you need to be on your A-game.

I am going to friendly suggest that you take ACTD's advice - you need to lodge a formal complaint against CAFCASS before the hearing to her manager. It will not look great the first time they hear this is on the day.

The particular CAFCASS officer may or more likely not be there - so you need to demonstrate (and I use the word only demonstrate) you have taken reasonable action to highlight this to them before.

I have no doubts your statements will be excellent - but keep it succint, put the complaint in highligh the concerns about lack of assessment with the children, factualy inaccuracies of a alleged severely disabled little girl whom they recommend indirect contact - request a new officer or an independent agent other than CAFCASS to do this - or for a senior manager to review the case (when and if you contact CAFCASS). It will be embaressing making these suggestions having never met or assessed her. A GP note would have been helpful too if thats possible to get before tuesday confirming that she is not functionally restricted - or you could request a medical assessment as part of the court hearing.

Fingers crossed and ask anything if it springs to mind beforehand.

BW

It's a tricky one mate as the courts feel really sorry for my ex especially the court cafcass [censored] from [censored], my ex done an oscar winning nearly fainting performance when she first seen me and the cafcass dragon kept saying through the case at how vunerable and scared of me my ex was, this comes through in the s7 it says what a controlling abusive person I am and how my ex needs to go on a freedom course to get over our relationship I think if I kick up a fuss and complain they will screw me in court they honestly belive every lie that comes out of my ex's mouth I don't want to rock the boat as they've recommended contact.