directions hearing - was i railroaded?

i have just attended a Directions hearing in which my ex is applying for parental responsibility. i am representing myself and my ex is funded by legal aid. before we went into the hearing my ex's solicitor talked to me about the case and put forward a number of suggestions as to how the case should proceed. he told me that as there was a long delay in hearing the case this would speed things up. anyway as a result it was agreed that my ex would be adding a contact order into the proceedings and that we should prepare statements by certain dates and return for a hearing.

now i have had time to think about this i am not sure that this was right. we did not discuss the case in the court at all, just the list of agreed Directions. reading the posts on here it seems we should have had the opportunity to discuss the situation in the hearing but this did not happen and now i feel that i may have been railroaded into something without realising it. i had already submitted a list of reasons why i opposed the order but these were not discussed. his solicitor did ask me if i wanted to discuss the matters with my ex outside of the court but i didnt want to do that as there was noone independant there.

is this right?

when we go back (the other solicitor asked for a whole day to be set aside for the hearing) will a decision be made that day? being there for the directions hearing was bad enough (i was physically sick before going in) without being railroaded at the next hearing.

also what should the statement be. a list of objections or full details?

any advise would be gratefully recieved.
thanks

I can't really see how a hearing in a court by a judge who is there to ensure that both sides have a fair hearing and to ensure that the best interests of the child is safe guarded could be looked at as 'rail roaded'?

All the otherside has said is that they're going to make a request for contact with the child as well as parental responsibilty. I would have thought that was pretty standard stuff and in no way, size, shape or form means that they're going to take the child away from you.

What they're looking for is what contact you would be happy with, how you would see it progressing in the future and what if any concerns you have.

If an agreement cannot be brokered in court between both sides with the judge/cafcass/solictor then thd judge will probaly call for an investigation and report being done over the following few months by CAFCASS before he sets an order in place.

T

this is not about me losing my kids. i dont know if a CAFCASS officer was there and i had no chance to put my feelings about the contact order forward. actually i am not opposing contact as such i just want to know where my ex lives if he has the kids and want him to pick the kids up in a suitable vehicle. i dont even know why he is bringing this up at court to be honest as this is the first time his solicitor has even been involved regarding contact (believe you me he isnt backward in using his solicitor to write to me when he wants seen as hes not paying for it) my question was more about whether this should have been discussed in the first hearing to come to a conclusion rather than pushing straight through to another hearing. prolonging the situation isnt helping my kids after all and now it will be another 10 weeks or so before anything else happens. i thought by putting my objections forward at this stage it would have been discussed, but this was not the case.

Thats why they've set aside a day for the hearing so that both sides can put forward their concerns, issues, requirements etc.

Evidence, issues etc can't really be discussed outside of the court so the solicitor wasn't in a position to be able to discuss the case other than agree a hearing was needed.

You now need to sit down and put together two lists. One of which is your concerns and the other what and how you would like contact to take place.

If on the day of the hearing after you and your ex have put your cases forward an agreement still cannot be made then the judge will look at how he wants to proceed.

T

The aim of a Directions hearing is for the judge to decide how the case should proceed.