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What contact will I be looking at for my 5 month old? Got a 3rd hearing next week.
Cafcass reconmend in the report that contact be built up, What exactly does this mean? The mum wants contact in a centre due to my limited parenting skills, but I’ve gone and done a course so will this help in anyway? I do have a criminal record for selling steroids and also criminal damage too.
At the moment I was given 5 hours supervised by mum in a public place which is awful. Mum has said if the court allow unsupervised she’s happy with one evening for an hour and half and one day at weekend for 2 and a half hours. Will the judge agree to this? I want two evenings and a full day at weekend.
Thanks in advance.
Hi there
The CAFCASS recommendations are good, the fact that contact is proceeding is also good and doing the parenting course is also helpful to you.
Contact centres aren't too bad, you might find its better than having mum supervise... Your baby is still very young and therefore you shouldn't expect too much, the courts like to set a schedule of short frequent visits, which progress as the child grows in independence.
The judge may agree to her proposed schedule, but it would be a starting point. If I were you I would prepare a schedule of increasing contact that shows you are thoughtful to your baby's needs and also those of the mother.
You could suggest that the starting point is Monday, Thursday and Saturday each week for 2 hours unsupervised. After two months suggest this is increased on Saturdays to a half a day, another increase after two months to a full day on the Saturday.... And so on. Sometimes it's worth asking for more than you would be ok with, this gives you room to compromise without losing too much.
All the best
Thank you for your reply mate,
Yes I agree the fact contact is proceeding is good, however I really don’t want it to continue being supervised. Will the judge definitely continue with supervised even though CAFCASS haven’t mentioned it?
Ex was supposed to file a statement to court outlining why she wants supervised but she won’t send a copy to my solicitor, stating the order says file to the courts and not file and serve. She’s litigant in person, is it right that she doesn’t have to serve us with the statement? Solicitor has asked her three times for it.
You can put a proposal to the court for moving from supervised through supported to unsupervised over a period of time, that way there's an end in sight if the court agrees.
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