Where do I stand?

[HerrenaHarridan]

I have seen a solicitor about this but he was massively unhelpful and i am still very confused and worried.

So ex and I split due to domestic violence. He currently sees dd 2 hours a week in a contact centre (when he can be bothered) he does not have a house to take her to and cannot be trusted to be sober enough to look after her unattended (weed and booze)

He has bail conditions not to approach me or my home.

So what happens if dd (16mo) is out with my friend, my mum or his mum (she has separate contact with his parents) and he sees them and demands that they hand over his daughter?

Thanks

They refuse, of course, and if necessary report it to the police.

Legally they can do that? Even though he's her dad and they're just the person I've entrusted her with.

I told them to just deny knowing who he was and call me immediately, for now.

They are still concerned that he would legally be within his rights to take her away from them and so am I tbh, there is no court order in place to say he has to give her back to me and that frightens me!

I don't know about legally, but I was in a very similar situation when my daughter was little. I was terrified that he would try to do this. I knew however that my parents would die before they'd let him take her, whatever the law was.

Hi HerrenaHarridan, it really depends if he has parental rights or not. Also, although bail conditions mention you and your home, they are unlikely to mention children (especially if there is a contact centre arrangement in place).

The lack of a court order regarding children would concern me too; have you considered getting a civil court order naming both yourself and child and setting out direct contact arrangements. This could be a good short term legal fix whilst the big picture plays out.

In practice if he tried to do that the police would be willing to intervene. You'd also be able to persuade a judge to grant you a prohibited steps order.
He'd be a fool to do it. You're probably worrying over nothing.

I am probably worrying over nothing, it's not like he even has anywhere to take her but that didn't stop my best friends ex nabbing her dd from nursery and disappearing for a few hours several times.

I did speak to solicitor about getting a a residency order so that I wouldn't have to worry about getting her back. He threaten to take her so many times even while we were still together.
The solicitor basically said he didn't see the point.

The point is my friends and family are scared to take her out and about without me, the point is that I can't let access progress out of the contact centre until I can be sure I can get her back