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NYAS

9 replies

howmuchlonger · 12/03/2012 17:32

Could anyone offer me some advice on how to get NYAS involved in court proceedings. To cut a long story short I have been going through court proceedings over contact with my childrens father for 2 years. the children have never wavered in their desire not to have contact with their father and have been made ill by it. Enough is enough and the children need to be heard now. I would like the children to have a guardian but I was not terribly impressed by Cafcass and would like to have NYAS involved (the cafcass report was not biased against me in any way but not very thorough). I understand that they need to be invited by the court through an order but I do not wish to get on the wrong side of the court or Cafcass by requesting NYAS.

I have spoken to NYAS and they would take our case on if the court will invite them. Could anyone offer me any advice?

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ElsieMc · 12/03/2012 20:07

My relationship with CAFCASS broke down to such an extent that they wanted NYAS to take the case in agreement with us. However, the Judge would not request NYAS to take the case because of the delay this would cause. "Unnecessary" delay is to be avoided wherever possible in children cases.

I am a grandparent carer with an RO. One of my main issues was that CAFCASS felt that the childrens' father would not re-offend, did not have anger management issues and I had only "perceived" the violence. I believed he lacked the capacity to change. Sadly, he has attacked twice again and a young man has been left fighting for his life. Another left the area to rebuild his life following a vicious attack. I will always remain fearful for my safety and that of my daughters.

It is a balancing act for the Judge of course - but does expediency come at the cost of safeguarding a child?

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howmuchlonger · 12/03/2012 22:15

Thanks Elsie. How old were the children at the time? I just want my children to be listened to. We've tried so many ways to establish good quality contact and nothing has worked. The children can't take anymore and keep saying they want to go to court and tell the judge which obviously they can't do but a guardian would be the next best thing.
is the judge object to NYAS or was it just the change in the organisation dealing with it?
Your poor grandchildren, how could Cafcass even think of taking the risk with a man like that???

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howmuchlonger · 14/03/2012 19:13

Does anyone have any info on NYAS?

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captainbluebear · 15/03/2012 12:37

Have you been in touch with NYAS yourself? I am sure they will speak with you even if it to outline what you have to do and whether they cab get involved or not. They have a freephone number on their website.
www.nyas.net/aboutus.html
How old are your children? This might have some relevance x

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howmuchlonger · 15/03/2012 12:59

Thanks captainbluebear. Yes I've spoken to them and they were really helpful and have said they would take our case on as long as the court invite them. My question really is how do I go about asking the court to bypass cafcass and invite nyas. I really don't want to get on the wrong side of anyone. The children are 9 & 10 x

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Collaborate · 15/03/2012 14:30

You turn up at the next hearing and ask away, making sure you have your reasons ready as to why the judge should dispense with CAFCASS and why you think they are failing to represent the views or interests of all the children.

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howmuchlonger · 15/03/2012 15:01

Thanks collaborate. Have you come across nyas? Would the court just say no and appoint a cafcass guardian instead? I'm actually hoping we'll get indirect contact but if my ex won't agree we need the kids to have a guardian and their own solicitor. I just don't want the cafcass officer we had, he didn't do a terrible job but just didn't listen to the children and ignored important info which the court were also quite surprised about. The whole point of a guardian is to have someone to actually listen to the children.

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Collaborate · 15/03/2012 15:33

I've had a couple of cases where guardians have been appointed, but I tend not to do too much Children work these days. I think it's a high bar to get over, convincing a judge to appoint yet another professional to deal with the kids. there's also the issue of further delay as well. If your only argument is you didn't like the job the cafcass officer did that will get you nowhere. You have to explain to the judge why the children need actual representation rather than having their views represented though CAFCASS.

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howmuchlonger · 15/03/2012 16:17

Thanks again collaborate. This leads me to think that asking for indirect may be the way to go. To cut a very long story short we have tried allsorts to get contact going but nothing has worked and we are going round in circles. The kids just refuse everything and sadly their father doesn't have any insight. I actually don't have a problem with the cafcass report in the sense of it being negative about me, it was quite the opposite and I understand where the cafcass officer was coming from.
My feeling is that getting a guardian would be another expensive lengthy way of showing what we already know but it is the only place we have left to go.