my court/cafcass experiance.

Hi all, i hope anyone thats going through the whole court process is managaing to keep positive, i really do understand how stressful things can get.

my basic story regards my 2 children now
aged 4 and 6. I had always had them atleast 50/50 (me and ex worked 12 hour opposite shifts) and for nearly 2 years i was the main carer and my ex began her nurses training.

we split in the june, where things went back to a 50/50 arrangemnt, 3 days one week and 4 days the next type thing. Anyways come april my ex decided she wasnt bringing the girls back and her instructing letter offered no type of contact.

At the 1st court date (may i believe) Cafcass became involved and i was hopeful things were atleast moving in some sort of direction. my ex refused to mediate and only offered me contact once every other sunday, which ofcouse i had to take.

after recieving a letter from CAFCASS a few weeks later with my allocated officer etc i was really hoping to get things moving properly, the main hearing was set for september with cafcass to submit there report a few weeks before.

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anyways 2 weeks pror to what was meant to be the main hearing i had heard nothing from cafcass at all i phoned them as i starting to panic and odcourse not having any experiance with this whole procedure thought that it was anormal thing not to hear from them so long. i could not speak to my allocated officer but the next day recieved a letter (hand posted) appologising and explaining basically that the report hadnt even been started.

the next week I saw my allocated officer in my home and discussed my concerns regarding my eldest childs continued lateness for school and also the way the mother was lying in her statements about a time of 2 months when i didnt even see the children. no time like that had ever happened. also i told her about the ex suddeny stopping contact with my children over xmas the previous year which i had even phoned the police about. did i think she seemed bothered? not really.

Before the (now) interim hearing and after (thank god) doing my own investigation, i had managed to get a letter from the school dismissing there was any time i didnt have the girls 50/50 and also a print out of the years register showing my child to be late 70& of time, most times just missing registration but late never the less.

when the judge heard the evidence and we had both spoken under oath he didnt hesitate to award me the girls back to being shared care until the next hearing.

in his judgement his words for the mother included "pathetic" "headstrong to the extreme" and basically that she had no right whatsoever to stop the contact that the children had always had.


this judgement is very important when it came to the section 7 report. the cafcass officer had not mentioned ANYWHERE anything about this, infact just completely went against it and sided with the mother, even when in court she was found to be lying.
Cafcass wanted full time residence with mother and me having them every other weekend.

at the next hearing, the above cafcass officer was taken off the section 7 report, for not only not including any reference to the judgement made or including anything to back up her claims but for not understaing the law regarding shared care as a whole.

the next officers report was recieved sometime in december with the main hearing set for 4th jan.
basically it STILL had no reference to the previous judgement made and was basically saying the same as the previous report, only that this time she had put completely shared care order with a residence oreder in favour of the mother.

after recieving the new report i also recieved a letter from cafcass to my 2 childen aged 3 and 5. this was UNBElIEVABLE, it said that the Judge would do what they thought was right, that they knew they wanted to see mummy and daddy equally, it even had a rough shared care timetable on it.

i never read this letter to my children.

At the final hearing both cacass officers had to attend.
basically the 1st report was was backed by the cafcass officer but she now would agree with what ever the newer report said.

The second cafcass oficer (after being questioned by my barrister) basically said that she didnt think shared care could work and went against her own report. this was just incredible.

Th judge was completely gobsmacked about the letter they sent to my children and also how case had been dealt with by my local cafcass team. both the barristers asked the judge if they could complain to cafcass regading there understanding of shared care as none of them seem to have an understanding regarding how the law stood now.

i was awarded joint custody.

i also went through a formal complaint with CAFCASS. the first steps are all in house which were incredible, i was complaining about a certain office yet they are dealing with the proccess. they said nothing had been recieved regarding the courts complaints.
in the end i gave up complaining any more, which looking back on i really shouldnt have.

i still find it absolutely disgusting how cafcass behaved and i thank god i done my own investigation. i always knew it would be a struggle as ofcourse my ex is their mother but i was expecting some sort of support, especially with the facts.

i really can see how fathers join places like fathers for justice because if that standard of compiling reports is anythig to go by there is a hell of alot of Men out there not getting the time they deserve with their children

TopDad33 wrote:

i really can see how fathers join places like fathers for justice because if that standard of compiling reports is anythig to go by there is a hell of alot of Men out there not getting the time they deserve with their children

Whilst I have much empathy for what you have experienced and much admiration for standing against same...I feel compelled to point out ..there are a few mothers going through similar...and albeit it lesser in number...no lesser the pain.

E

I completely agree with you, i can only draw from my own experiance but to be honest nothing would suprise me. i really do hope that you get to where you deserve to be x

I am working on it TopDad , my best wishes to you too

E

No one is joining F4J any more because it has been disbanded. Sadly, the poor standard of CAFCASS reports and lack of basic knowledge of the law are well documented in Ofsted reports so all too often the outcome relies on lawyers challenging the reports on points of law and the judge's reasoning.

I have read your story and found it most upsetting, but somehow so familair. I have had nothing but bias from Cafcass in favor of the the mothers perceived rights and mine, well are just ignored.I had a shared arrangement for our son, suddenly Cafcass became involved, now all has gone to hell! I have been debased by thier tactics and they are doing more harm than good.,, story--

Dear all.
I find that on reading the many comments obout Cafcass, that i must concur. I have always been a wonderful Father to my 7 yr old son. But now due to Cafcas's total bias, i now see my son for only 2 hours every fortnight, and with supervision. I have been seperated from my partner for over 3 years we had a sharing arrangement of our son, which went well... until she met someone else! My x then decided to stop letting me see my son, and applied to court to prevent me access. I do not have PR for my son and am powerless to do anything! My x has made the most ridiculous accusations about me, all of which Cafcass have recorded. Strangely NOT ONE of my accusations appear in thier reporting. I have found CAFCASS to be absolutely corrupt through and through, they fabricate evidence out of nowhere and forward it is fact to the court. You are left powerless to change anything written about you, even if you can prove its not true! At the moment these terrible people are destroying my relationship with my loving son. As far as i am concerened they are child abusers. I plead with someone out there to help me get justice for my son and me. Cafcass the fabricators of evidence and destroyers of Fathers characters. They have just about ruined me, im on my knees now fighting them, its no use, its hopeless, they do what they want. Bias is just not a strong enough word. corrupt and heartless is their makeup. If someone out there can help me fight them, please come forward.

Paul.

are you not able to get PR through the courts? you shopuld be able to if you are on the birth certificate. i had PR for my youngest but not my eldest, their mother wanted to contest me having it but the courts pushed it through anyway. good luck and try to keep postive, giving up is not an option