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I've been told by the cafcass officer assigned to my case that she is appointing herself as a guardian for the children under rule 16.4
I'm told that there is a difference between a guardian allocated under rules 16.3 and 16.4 - could someone explain what that difference is and why a guardian would be appointed? Is this something to worry about or is there anything else I need to do now that a guardian has been appointed? I'm trying to understand why a guardian is appointed in the first place and what the implications of that are? For example, would a guardian be appointed only if a section 37 is being considered etc?
Secondly, at the last hearing the judge advised my ex that unsupervised contact would be appropriate and I had been seeing the children for two months at my home, unsupervised. Cafcass then stopped that and I requested confirmation from the courts - the response came back in a letter that "unsupervised contact was not prohibited if this was ok with the mother". However Cafcass are refusing this "in the interim due to the allegations made against me". A section 7 report is due within the next 3 days and the next hearing is on Monday 19th February.
I'm trying to understand what the implications of their decision are and whether unsupervised contact is likely in the future? By saying "in the interim", does this mean this will be temporary?
I don’t know the difference between 16.3 and 16.4 but a Guardian is appointed to represent the interests of the children. In his case the children now have a solicitor appointed by the Guardian who pretty much runs the show. At one point the judge was considering interim contact but the guardian opposed it and the judge didn’t give it. His Guardian has been rubbish to be honest, she was initially sympathetic but then sided with the ex and was actually instrumental in getting him arrested when ex made false allegations, she refused to listen to any of his concerns after he was totally exonerated and is now on mysterious extended “sick leave”.
Interim contact is made pending a full hearing, he’s never managed to get this mythical contact as Cafcass have always opposed it on some issue or other.
It’s possibly good getting a Guardian appointed this early on though. He feels if the Guardian has been brought in much earlier he would be in a better position now. But as with any Cafcass officer it depends on whether you get a good one.
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