What to expect - opinions on interim arrangements / final hearing

[Lostmykid]

In a short summary , I have a child I haven’t seen for 3 months he’s now 1 year old , I spent 11 hours in police custody 5 days before Christmas over fake allegations of attempting to suffocate him (when he was 2 months old she awoken and a pillow was in his cot that fell off the bed) . After we broke up in November she reported me and said I put it there this resulting in no further action . She has repeated this to cafcass . She was supported by a crisis team in September and was diagnosed with resentment towards me , thought I’d kill my child and suicidal thoughts .. she has repeated these allegations to cafcass . I’m hoping interim contact is in my favour as I’ve not seen my lad in 3 months and belive her mental health is affecting her

She also suffered form domestic abuse from an ex partner who got put in prison for 10 months I recently found out about so maybe there’s some trauma or ptsd involved.

 

[Ash]

It is very difficult, without hard evidence, to claim an ex has ptsd etc. The court themselves should see that if she is claiming things that aren't true, then there is an issue with her. And it's either pre-meditated (for whatever reason), malicious, or she has some kind of fear (they often put this down to "Mother anxiety" rather than any ptsd etc unless medical evidence says she has ptsd).

Are you being represented at the upcoming hearing? You could ask for GP letters, on both parents, regarding any history of ptsd or mental health issues. However her GP might not have much on file if she didn't raise the abuse from an ex partner. But just by asking for these, it hints that there may be some mental health issue.

You could ask that in a position statement, along with asking for an interim order for progressing time. I think you wouldn't get unsupervised time though, and the difficulty at FHDRA is, if the ex won't agree to interim time, the court usually doesn't order it. They order a section 7 report to look into things further.

So I think you need quite a strong position statement before this hearing to try and achieve contact centre time at least. But you may not achieve it until the next hearing when medical letters are seen and after a S7 report.

 

[Lostmykid]

It is very difficult, without hard evidence, to claim an ex has ptsd etc. The court themselves should see that if she is claiming things that aren't true, then there is an issue with her. And it's either pre-meditated (for whatever reason), malicious, or she has some kind of fear (they often put this down to "Mother anxiety" rather than any ptsd etc unless medical evidence says she has ptsd).

Are you being represented at the upcoming hearing? You could ask for GP letters, on both parents, regarding any history of ptsd or mental health issues. However her GP might not have much on file if she didn't raise the abuse from an ex partner. But just by asking for these, it hints that there may be some mental health issue.

You could ask that in a position statement, along with asking for an interim order for progressing time. I think you wouldn't get unsupervised time though, and the difficulty at FHDRA is, if the ex won't agree to interim time, the court usually doesn't order it. They order a section 7 report to look into things further.

So I think you need quite a strong position statement before this hearing to try and achieve contact centre time at least. But you may not achieve it until the next hearing when medical letters are seen and after a S7 report.

Hi please see the added on information I have attached , and yes I’ve paid for lawyers who have informed me she does not qualify for legal aid , I’ve offered her counciling , paid for her mediation and tried to offer custody arrangements all have been ignored so far , currently we have sent a c100 that’s been issued to her and cafcass have now spoken with the judge regarding if it’s going to a section 7 or not . Cafcass did not disclose this information with me as there’s information on there that the judge needs to decide to disclose , I’ve also been attending therapy , parenting classes and set up an isa for my child to attempt to strengthen my case

 

[Ash]

Which additional information? Sorry I can't see any other threads by you?

 

[Ash]

I posted this earlier but it didn't come out on my post:

In some cases where a Dad has been represented, their lawyer has persuaded the Judge to order interim time, even if the Mother doesn't agree, but I think that is not that common.

It's bonkers when the person who is witholding the child, has the power to prevent an interim order, but the courts are conscious of safeyt of the child, so until things are looked into, they err on the side of caution.

If you can get supervised time in a contact centre, it helps, because you'll get contact centre reports.

If you're not represented, I can help with a position statement if you like. And it's important to mention the Police NFA.

 

[Ash]

Hi please see the added on information I have attached , and yes I’ve paid for lawyers who have informed me she does not qualify for legal aid , I’ve offered her counciling , paid for her mediation and tried to offer custody arrangements all have been ignored so far , currently we have sent a c100 that’s been issued to her and cafcass have now spoken with the judge regarding if it’s going to a section 7 or not . Cafcass did not disclose this information with me as there’s information on there that the judge needs to decide to disclose , I’ve also been attending therapy , parenting classes and set up an isa for my child to attempt to strengthen my case

So Cafcass have only sent their safeguarding letter to the court and not to parents, is that right?

 

[Lostmykid]

Hi please see the added on information I have attached , and yes I’ve paid for lawyers who have informed me she does not qualify for legal aid , I’ve offered her counciling , paid for her mediation and tried to offer custody arrangements all have been ignored so far , currently we have sent a c100 that’s been issued to her and cafcass have now spoken with the judge regarding if it’s going to a section 7 or not . Cafcass did not disclose this information with me as there’s information on there that the judge needs to decide to disclose , I’ve also been attending therapy , parenting classes and set up an isa for my child to attempt to strengthen my case

Which additional information? Sorry I can't see any other threads by you?

Hi sorry I don’t know what happened with it I’m new to this ,

Just added on I’m being represented by a lawyer she doesn’t qualify for legal aid and as far as I’m aware hasn’t got any legal representation . She repeated the allegations to cafcass I’m currently up to the stage where a section 8 c100 has been issued to her and the judge and cafcass have had a hearing deciding if it’s a section 7 or not they didn’t disclose it due to sensitive info

I have raised to cafcass her family have members with bipolar and mental health issues , her crisis team intervention and also mentioned she wanted to sell our house and separate over multiple things no matter how big or small (I suspect she might have bpd but didn’t put this point across to cafcass as I wanted to come across the right way)

Info I forgot to attach to this thread - she was abused as a child and wouldn’t let our child stay with my parents because she feared my father would abuse our child I have also raised this to cafcass
I also let them know when I tried to do simple things like change his nappy she would take over believing I am hurting him

I received texts off her mother saying my child is thriving without me and also sent him Christmas cards which her mother also said go straight into recycling don’t send any more

 

[Lostmykid]

So Cafcass have only sent their safeguarding letter to the court and not to parents, is that right?

Yes as far as I’m aware . Unless they can send it to her as it’s not sensitive to her , still waiting to hear back the results of this hearing it’s been a week now

 

[Ash]

That's fine - meant you added more in another post How is it not sensitive to her?

 

[Lostmykid]

I thought because the information is already known to her she might receive a copy but I’m not sure

 

[Lostmykid]

That's fine - meant you added more in another post How is it not sensitive to her?

It’s appeared above now incase you missed it

 

[Nanaforsonsjustice]

My sons wasn’t disclosed until the FHDRA as both had disclosed domestic abuse that was reported to the police.