Appeal soon re: Children's Order case. Advice very welcome!

[ProtectiveMother]

Hi

I'm appealing decision to allow young children to their fathers overnight due to very serious concerns based on previous violence & emotional abuse and since the daytime contact proving detrimental, I would really like to stop contact until my ex is asked some actual questions about all the events that took place. At the hearing, he wasn't even asked to open his mouth. Cafcass isn't an option, social services won't get involved as its in court, childline?, the officer in court responsible for children's welfare has been very unhelpful. Where do I go from here? I need to protect my children from this man.

(Please, if you're only on Mumsnet to let your anger out on these threads or say unsupportive things, please go elsewhere to someone less vulnerable atm.)

[Spirulina]

violence to whom? and why not cafcass?

I don't think you can expect people to tell you how to contact block,after all,we only have your brief version of events here. childline have no power to stop contact either

[DinkyMole]

Why isn't cafcass an option? This is exactly the situation they deal with..?

[lostdad]

You will only have grounds to appeal if you feel that the judge made an error in law, took something into account that shouldn't have/didn't take into account something that should have, insufficient weight to matters, failed to give adequate consideration into the emotional needs of the child, was misled, misdirected himself/herself or there was no evidence on which a finding could be based.

A judge has a wide ambit of discretion however and appeals shouldn't be made solely on the basis you don't like the decision. You will need to show that the judge was plainly wrong' so the bar is pretty high.<br /> <br /> What do you base your views on other than concerns'?

[ProtectiveMother]

What do you mean when you say he has a 'wide ambit of discretion?'

Thanks that is helpful info...

[Collaborate]

I agree with lostdad. Appealing a final order is very difficult to do.
Have a look at the Practice Direction on Children Act orders and domestic violence. If your judge deviated from the PD you may be able to use that in an appeal. You wouldn't normally expect a court to deviate from the PD without explaining why (just to be clear, deviating from the PD in itself does not give you ground to appeal. It just mast be indicative of a wrong approach that in itself may be ground for appeal).
www.justice.gov.uk/courts/procedure-rules/family/practice_directions/pd_part_12j

[lostdad]

A wide ambit of discretion means that the judge is permitted to make any decision he/she likes so long as he follows the `rules' (i.e. Practice Direction') and makes decisions in the best interests of the child.

Many judges will set out why they have made the decision they have at the hearing in relation to each point of the Welfare Checklist.