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Legal matters

CAFCASS letter

9 replies

RichardTVR · 12/06/2011 13:03

Hi, I'm single parent and following years in court have custody of my son. I'm very familiar with the court process.
However, yesterday I received a letter from CAFCASS requesting an interview, apparently as a result of a court hearing.
I have not been contacted by the court and have not attended court.
I can't contact CAFCASS until the morning and am going spare with worry about what has instigated this?
I assume that if a case has been started by my son's mother to change access, that I would of first have heard from the court?
Any advice would be great, thanks.

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teenidentity · 12/06/2011 13:21

Hi, yes, if the mum had made an applicatiion under the children act you would be served immediately. You haven't moved house since the last proceedings, have you?

The two possibilities which spring to my mind are:

  1. Cafcass have messed up and meant to write to someone else (this happens with frequent regularity ime - last week they handed in a report at the last minute and half way through changed families - obv. a printing error in the report which no one had bothered to read through.


  1. They've been contacted by the police following an incident of domestic violence reported to the police, either in your current relationship or between you and your ex. This happens automatically if police are called out to a DV incident where children are present.


I suspect it's probably (1).
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RichardTVR · 12/06/2011 13:36

Thanks, that's interesting - it could well be DV as I strongly suspect it's still on-going.

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mumblechum1 · 12/06/2011 14:00

Do you mean a DV incident between your ex and a new ptrr

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RichardTVR · 12/06/2011 14:06

Yes, there is a history of DV between them.

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RichardTVR · 12/06/2011 14:09

Though my son has not witnessed any for several years during contact.

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Collaborate · 12/06/2011 18:02

Won't be any of this. She'll have applied to the court and you haven't been served yet. Cafcass need to do safeguarding checks, and it's this they have written to you about. They never get involved unless the case is before the court.

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RichardTVR · 12/06/2011 18:44

Ah OK, that too makes sense. It seams that these things are endless, expensive and extremely distressing. But I guess I'll just have to go through it all again. Thanks for your advice.

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Collaborate · 12/06/2011 19:11

Ring the court and they'll tell you if an application has been issued.

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RichardTVR · 16/06/2011 22:27

Well, mystery solved - an application to enforce the court order has been applied for. Crazy, as I abide by it.
Thank you everyone for the help, helped me through a very worrying weekend.

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