advice please on family court and cafcass

Hi Mark

It seems that you have solicitor etc in place but it is obviously annoying not knowing what your ex has applied to the about for.

In my case i also received cafcass letters first stating a court date in 13 days. (unlike you i wasn't to have reports from cafcass, just that they would see me in court prior to hearing). I too saw my solicitor first who didnt seem overly concerned i hadn't been served papers ( i was aware roughly of what the ex would be applying for).

I contacted the court directly however and was told that all papers had been sent back to my ex's solicitor over a week before and that i should contact them as a matter of urgency which i did.
They claimed to have emailed me a week ago (which turned out to be not the case....another story!).

Had i not received the letter from cafcass informing me of their role then i would never have known about the court hearing, would not of shown up and would just of been awaiting a reply from my ex's solicitor. I am in no doubt delay tactics were being used in my case.
As already suggested to you by i think Fiona, phone the courts yourself and they will inform you who has the court papers. You have time on your side and little to worry about from what has been said so far from what other know about your situation.
But the sooner you locate the papers the sooner you can request to be served them and know whats going on.
Good Luck

be very careful of cafcass they are liars and do not act in the childs best interests they are an absolute disgrace and dangerous

just come back from a weeks hols to find the papers sent to me from x2b solicitor, it staes she is wanting more contact to include overnight staying contact and that i will not allow this, due to concerns i have in relation to her partner.

the concerns i have is shes told me her partner has a drink problem, smokes spliff and she has had the police out to him for been violent to her and her daughter. She now denies saying he smokes spliff, says he not violent its her daughter that gets nasty with him, and is cured of the drink problem because he's been in rehab.

on the papers it says is our son known by the local authority children,s services and she has said no but we had a social worker visit a few months ago and she knows this. she has also made it look as though she is only allowed less contact then she really has.

Hi Mark,

Might be an idea to request a guardian if your child has had recent involvement with soc serv. I have custody of my 8yr old girl. A CAFCASS guardian was involved and still is. I think she's far more capable than a normal officer.

IMO you have nothing to worry about re residence, contact may be an issue but put your foot down if you have any concerns. My ex's partner is a nightmare. Mum has supervised contact 6 weekly at the mo. The safety of your boy is everything!

my son is 12 and insists he wants to stay with me, he says he would like overnights with his mum but not if her partner is there as he went to their flat on mothers day and her partner got upset about something and started shouting and pushing his mum, son got his phone out to ring me or police but his mum begged him not, i just found this out a couple of week ago as x made him promise he would not tell me

Given his age I would be extremely surprised - gobsmacked; if they went against his wishes... unless they think you've put the words into his mouth. They listen to my 8yr old, and although they have gone against her wishes once, it was a rare thing. Contact with GM and mum is supervised by Soc Serv because she says she wants it that way - and for similar reasons to yourself.

You could put a few ideas to the court;

Contact happens at your home/in the community supervised by yourself

Social services have mentioned concerns. If they get involved they will recommend contact is in the childs best interests but will be obligated to ensure that contact takes place safely. They have the funding and facilities to ensure contact happens safely.

Supported contact; contact centres offer an experienced supervisor and a place for contact to happen. If you're not too worried about your ex, they can provide just a room. Don't know where you're from but the "Corum Family" are an organisation that can help there (South East England)corumfamilysite.com/

It is very damaging to children if they are exposed to domestic violence/abuse. The authorities go to great lengths to protect children from its exposure.

It may be a help if you could get your son to be open with CAFCASS. If he can tell them what he wants and why, he'll probably get it.

PM me if you like. Don't have net at home but generally can get on at least every other day.

i don't have any worries about his mum, i am sure she would not hurt him and does love him in her own funny way, it's her partner that worries me, but i do not have proof for my worries it's all hearsay from x and shes denying having said it now, at moment she has set contact every second sat 10-6 and if she wants more she phones our son and checks it ok with him, the only condition i have placed on it is that he does not have contact with her partner and thats why theres no over nights, i also helped her set up the vodaphone family so their can phone each other for an hour at a time with out any cost, this package costs just a fiver a month.