[Solved] Child Arrangement Order.

Morning Bill337

Police has cleared me with NFA from the false DV allegations. Couple of times in the past I was involved with verbal arguments with the neighbours due to my ex wife complaining to me of excessive noise. Police had been called from both sides but thats it. I have never been interviewed or anything from police. Plus social services report stated that I have never been known to social services in the past. This is the only time they got involved due to my ex wife fake allegations. They said that they are not involved in this matter anymore.

Kind Regards

sounds like you have nothing to worry about then. ex will nearly always claim DV/DA Controlling behaviour mumbo jumbo. because thats the route to claiming for legal aid and free ticket to wind you up in lots of court hearings.

Hi there,

I've had my section 7 interview today. Cafass offer said that my ex wife stated that I have no parenting skills and I can't look after my daughter and can't fulfil her emotional and physical needs. She is 2 year old. Cafcass officer basically said that the only way they can check whether I am a good dad or not by supervised contact. He said he will make his final recommendations in couple of weeks. He said I should take supervised contact in a positive way and I should consider this something better than nothing. He did not give me any clear cut answer. I was really child focused and I said that I don't want any trouble with my ex and want to play an active role in my daughter's life. I did say that she is doing all this out of malic and its not fair for my daughter. My question is what should I expect from Cafcass recommendation? Are they going to give me supervised contact or are they going to say no contact? He said because I have not seen my daughter for last 4 months (not my falut) that's why it might be supervise to start with. I am feeling really down as I have not done anything wrong and have provided my GP letter (perfect mental health) and NFA letter from police. Please guys any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Hi Arman,

as cafcass officer mentioned supervised contact, then 99% chance he will put exactly that in the report as his recommendations. in my cafcass S7 interview, the officer was very reasonable and mentioned contact like every other weekend, holidays etc. and thats exactly what she put in the S7 report recommendations. i also heard silly claims of not having parenting capacity. but it looks silly as i have already been seeing my kids once a week for a couple of months, which covered lunch, nap time and dinner etc.

another thing i did before my interview, was print out the parenting plan from cafcass site and fill it in. i took it to the interview and randomly mentioned it. she then asked to see it. she was very pleased and said the other parents never come to the interview with a parenting plan.

what I would suggest for you at court is, try to argue for your family members to supervise you with your child at your house. ex tried to have me in a contact centre out of malice, but failed, as no risk to child and i have always been close to my kids. worst case scenario is the contact centre, but see if you can argue for that time to be very limited, so you dont stay there for 6 months - a year.

Hi Bill,

Thanks for ypur replay. Cafcass officer said that because I have not seen my daughter more than 5 months because of both occasions Cafcass was not present in the court, thats why it needs to be in contact centre. He said my ex wife said she will only consider contact in contact centre. He said I shpuld take that in a positive way as atleast it is something better than nothing. He was saying that it might be 6 sessions. I still think ita unfair as Police has cleared me of DV. Perfect mental health letter from GP. My ex wife took our daughter and run away. I am loosing hope in this system. It is soo unfair, I feel like my wife is winning and I just can't deal with this anymore. Cafcass officer said that they need reporton my parenting skills and can only be done through third party in contact centre.

Hi Arman

The Cafcass Officer is right, because of the length of time since last contact, contact centres are generally used for a short period, just to re establish the bond... it really is nothing to worry about and no reflection on you as a parent.

Hi Mojo,

Thank you so much. I am worried that after 6 supervised sessions my ex wife will still refuse me to have unsupervised contact. What do you think is going to happen after the 6 supervised sessions?
Thanks

Supervised contact can be really helpful, there will be a support worker there observing and preparing a report for the court, on how well the sessions are going... they won’t interfere in your time with your child, unless they have to.

You would prepare for your visit by taking things like juice or any other little treats that you know your daughter likes.... maybe a book or magazine, it the main thing is to have a good fun time with your child and try and forget that anyone else is there.

Dads worry that their child will have forgotten them, but that very rarely happens and usually the child is happy to be reunited and it can seem like you were never apart.

If the report is favourable, the court are likely to want to move the contact on and out of the contact centre. It’s a good idea to prepare a schedule of increasing contact, starting with half days, then a full day and then an overnight, then weekends... gentle increases over a period of a 3 - 6 months.

All the best

Dear Mojo,

Thank you so much for your support. My daughter is 2 year old. When my ex took her she was only 19 months old. You think she will still remember me? I am still waiting from Cafcass to send me the report. The officer said it will take 7-10days.

Kind Regards

I’m pretty sure she will Arman, she might be a little quiet at first, just be her Dad.

Hi mojo,

I am reading quite a lot and many people are saying that if there is no Safeguarding issues then Cafcass should not offer supervised contact. In my case there Police has cleared me with NFA and GP letter stated that I have excellent mental health. They why cafcass officer was talking about supervised contact? Plus if cafcass recommend supervised contact in section 7 then what will happen next? Would my case be closed as they have recommended supervised contact or would there be more hearings once I finish supervised contact?

Kind Regards

Hi Arman,

at my first hearing, overnight contact was refused by ex. cafcass said they would do section 7 report before next hearing (DRA dispute resolution appointment.) so report came out and i went to 2nd hearing. no safe guarding issues at all but ex just messing around and not wanting to give me fri-sun weekends etc. so now going to 3rd and final hearing.

one of my kids was 2 years and half years old. when ex did runner. i was very close to my kids. she is very clingy. holds onto my legs and follows me around the house lol. if you were close to your child then i dont think he/she will forget.

is another hearing coming up for you? what will likely happen is contact centre sessions to start. when their finished, they will inform court, and most likely you will have to go back to court to decide on the next steps. like what mojo mentioned, argue to increase contact outside contact centre, in your home. if your contact sessions go well then thats the next logical step. ex will try and frustrate things, but try hard not to react to her, and just focus on spending time with your child.