NRP disrupting child at school

Elphie - The school said the only way they can prevent him taking her is if they have a copy of a court order specifying his contact time is alternate weekends only. Whether that is legally correct, I''m unsure.

Pete - She cannot be reassured by the fact that I''m there because her dad has to physically take her for contact (i.e. restrain her and put her in his car) when contact is due, so as far as she''s concerned there''s nothing to stop him taking her in front of me at school.

Chained - The attendance certificate is termly and made a really big fuss of at school, it isn''t unusual for a child to aim to receive one along with her friends, nor is it unusual for a just turned 5 year to want routine and consistency in their lives. It amazes me how some people defend the NRP no matter what on here - if I arrived and took my daughter during her contact time with her father without him knowing, would that be right? Or would it be worrying for him and unsettling for our daughter?

Chained, most of us who are making suggestions to help Jenna have followed her story over the last couple of years and know how far her relationship with her ex has settled down and how much better things are than they used to be. However, one thing that has repeatedly caused problems is her ex''s repeated threats to her daughter that one day he will turn up and take her unexpectedly from school or nursery and that one day she will go and live with him. Possibly because of this Jenna''s daughter has become very anxious around contact; she is an anxious child anyway. So I think Jenna is quite right to be concerned, though it''s a very difficult situation to solve.

I agree also that the attendance certificate thing is something that really matters to little ones. Primary schools make a big deal of it and a child who wants to please and to fit in will not want to be left out of the celebrations.

Best wishes,
Sadie

Thank you, Sadie. It is precisely because of how much things have settled down that I don''t want to ''rock the boat'' with him. The thing is that if I talk to him about it, he''ll say it to her more or may even do just to prove he can. He doesn''t care that she is upset by a lack of consistency, he just repeats that she is his daughter and therefore he can decide what he wants to do regarding her.