Waiting for section 7 and Christmas plans

[lonelypolarbear]

Hello all

We went to our first court hearing last week regarding a child arrangement order for our children due to safeguarding concerns, and the judge has ordered a section 7 report to be done and in the meantime the children are to live with me and only spend Tuesday afternoons with their dad until CAFCASS give any other guidance.

so Christmas is looming and he will have the children Christmas Eve until 8:30pm but he has sent a message asking for the children on Boxing Day from 10-7. I haven’t responded yet and I’m in turmoil. The safeguarding concerns are very much true and whilst I’m hopeful he’s bucked his ideas up and is behaving appropriately, I don’t know for sure. I’m not a complete monster and part of me knows that our son would like to see him Boxing Day but I do obviously have my worries and I’m also very concerned that whatever way I go, it’ll be viewed badly. If I agree then it could be argued that whatever he’s accused of can’t be that bad as I’m willing to let him go round there at Christmas, but if I say no and feel more at ease, it will anger him and all I can hear is the judge who said “we take a dim view of parents who can’t communicate and work together”. What do I do?? 😢

If the safeguarding concerns are valid you should stick to the agreed arrangement and he should be grateful that Christmas Eve falls on a Tuesday.

What was the advice in the initial Cafcass safeguarding letter?

In the meantime I would stick to the interim court order. It was only made last week, there won’t have been any further assessment by Cafcass yet, and there must be welfare concerns to have the s7 report directed. You shouldn’t be penalised for sticking to an order made by the court.

That’s what my gut instinct is telling me, there’s also the other part of me that feels such terrible guilt for saying no, but that’s just me 😢

thank you for responding ❤️

Their advice to the court was to continue with the Tuesday evening, there was no mention of anything else.

I think I know the right answer, it’s just he will be bloody angry and as I had to sit in court and listen to absolute made up nonsense he was accusing me of, I don’t want to aggravate the situation more, but I also have to make sure the little people are well looked after and safe 😢

Don’t feel guilty for doing what the court has directed. You have no choice. It sounds like it’s his own fault that he’s in this situation!

Well you should stick to the court arrangement but how is he safe on Tuesday but not Thursday ? Is it supervised ?

Surely he’s either safe to have them unsupervised or he’s not. But given the current order you’re best off sticking to it religiously, no Boxing Day.