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Surprise, surprise, Cafcass have made a pigs ear of their safeguarding report.
It's not a total pigs ear to be fair, but they have written that I've accused my ex's mum as sexually abusing my daughter (which they seem to have just made up for their own amusement?), which is pretty mental, not to mention totally not true. They've also said in the report that they had advised me to get a mental and physical health diagnosis from my GP, and download and complete a parenting plan - they didn't at all advise me of this, so I don't know how thorough a diagnosis they want, etc, nor what this parenting plan is meant to be and where I get it from.
Those are the main things, the rest are more minor inaccuracies which can be put straight at court. I'm wondering what to do about the other stuff? Whether to phone them? My solicitor is out of the office until this Monday 15th and the court hearing is on Monday 22nd.
I wasn't very happy with the woman who did the interview either. I'm not saying she was drunk (although she could well have been), but she sounded a bit drunk - slurring some of her words/speaking clumsily, plus she got really snappy with me for no reason at the beginning.
I will also say that several times in the report she has said that both me and my ex seem to be set on discrediting each other. She literally asked me to tell her directly how my ex has been neglecting, and potentially abusing my child. I told her and made sure that I referred every answer back to how it wasn't in my daughter's best interests. Unless I said 'Actually, no, I would like to retract my accusations about the neglect and abuse', I don't see how I could have told her about my ex's abuse and neglect without mentioning my ex's abuse and neglect. They just write whatever they want regardless of what you say. Really not happy.
Any advice is hugely appreciated as always.
Generally if there are factual errors in a report you can ask for that to be amended, but if you disagree with the content/analysis they would just tell you to,address it in court.
You could try calling the officer that made the report and ask about the things that are wrong, but you are time limited.
I wouldn’t advise alleging she was drunk to be honest... can’t see it getting you anywhere and it might make them think you’re being malicious.
All the best
Thought I’d link you to the CAFCASS Operating Framework, in particular section 3.22 - Analytical writing in a case analysis.
Thanks for that. I will call them on Monday, hopefully I can speak to my solicitor on Monday morning first. I'm just aware that my court hearing is on Monday 22nd, and if they want these health diagnosis' then my GP is going to have to be very quick with them.
Don't worry, I have no intention of alleging that the interviewer was drunk. I don't think she was drunk - she just sounded like it.
No worries... please do let us know how you get on.
In regards to the line in the Cafcass safeguarding report that reads like I've accused my ex's mum of sexual abuse, having spoken to Cafcass last week it seems it was just badly written. I'm a copywriter, maybe I should offer them my services.
I had my initial court hearing today. It didn't go quite to plan. In short, my ex is breaching the court order left, right and centre. She wouldn't agree to anything today and is still only letting me see my daughter one day a week, regardless of what our current order says. We were pushing for a final hearing date to be set, but my ex's solicitor pushed to have everything resolved in child-friendly mediation with no final hearing. The judge went with her solicitor and ordered that a dispute hearing be set for January to see how we got on at mediation and with the aim to avoid a final hearing. Basically, if there's no final hearing, my ex is just going to continue breaching whatever order is in place and causing [censored]. Mediation will hopefully start in the next couple of weeks, and everything is to continue as it is until at least then, if not until January, or possibly later still. Trying to find the positives: I guess at least something is happening, and even though mediation has never worked before, I guess if it doesn't work this time, at least that will be noted (again!) and might influence a final hearing in my favour. I can always hope.
Cafcass weren't really interested in much of the evidence I had on hand, as expected. I did the parenting plan that they asked for too, which they didn't even look at.
Thanks for the update, progress is slow, but as you say, at least something is happening, even if it feels like you're just going through the motions.
Hopefully when/if it's shown that she really doesn't want to reach agreement and isn't willing to compromise, then the court should move it on and start making decisions. If the January hearing turns into a final hearing, it might be useful to ask for a further review hearing, just to make sure that the final order is being adhered to and working as it should be.
All the best
Yeah, I mean there's just so much stuff which absolutely needs sorting and isn't going to be optional for my ex to not agree to, and given how my ex is just not agreeable to start with, I just don't see things getting resolved, which means this thing is now going to drag on through 2019. It's frustrating, especially when Cafcass recommended to the court in their safeguarding report that this is all wrapped up as quickly as possible for the benefit of our daughter.
Thanks for the tip on the further review hearing, I wasn't aware of that. I'll make a note to mention it to my solicitor when we're inevitably back at court in January.
You're welcome.
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