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I am looking for some support or advice on how I can legally or rightfully go about gaining parental rights to see my daughter. I split up from my partner about a year or so ago now. It was a difficult break up, I found out she had cheated on my several times during the relationship. While I had stayed at home, and been a full time Dad to my daughter, who is now 7 turning 8. It has already been hard for me, I can only see her occasionally when my daughter's mother agrees to dropping her at my sister's house. My mum arranged a holiday over Easter which she was planning on taking my daughter with her, and now my daughter's mother has refused. Even though having agreed to it in the first place. She wants all the arrangements to be on her terms.
I don't want to get angry, but I am finding it increasingly more and more frustrating that I will I am getting locked off from my daughter's life. My daughter's mother is talking negatively in front of her about me, and I see that my daughter is extremely unhappy with the current situation she is living in. I want to make it better for her, but I feel I am in difficult position as a father, and I don't know how to go about gaining the right to see her. I find it very hard to talk to my daughter's mother as she will just not listen and be extremely immature and manipulative.
I would be so grateful if someone could just offer me some sort of advice of what would be the best way to go about a situation like this.
Many thanks
Ali
Hi Ali
May I ask, are you named on your daughters birth certificate? This would mean that you have parental responsibility.
All is not lost, you have two options to try and sort this out. The first is mediation and this is the accepted first step before taking court action. Here's a link to the mediation service
www.nfm.org.uk
Legal aid is still available for mediation and you can check if you can claim this here
www.gov.uk/check-legal-aid
Have a look at the stickys at the top of the legal eagle section where you'll find plenty of info on self representing and the court process.
Yes my name is on the birth certificate. I was trying my hardest to avoid any sort of legal action, as I didn't want it to get any more nasty between me and my daughter's mother than it already has. But something has to done.
...you do have parental responsibility then.
I would say that it's worth trying mediation, it can be successful but you won't know unless you give it a go!
Best of luck