Child contact order

[littlemissminime]

I say child contact order order because a residence order no longer exists right? So when a judge finally orders who has child contact on what days, does then then stop the ex from his threats of taking the children from school when it isn't his day? Does it mean he can only have them on the set days unless otherwise mutually agreed?

Yes just at the times agreed so may be worth telling the children and the school head and sending to school a copy o the order so the Head knows not to let him take them on days which are not his.

Thank you!

The new orders are called child arrangement orders and they tell you who the child spends time with or lives with. If a parent has parental responsibility, they can take the child from school, unless they are prohibited specifically from doing so. If they do not have parental responsibility, the legal situation is different.

So a court order say Tues & Wed with Mum and Mon & Friday with Dad, Dad can still go into school on a Tuesday and take the child, just like that and theres nothing I can do?

Legally the school cannot refuse to hand over a child to a parent with PR unless there is a court order prohibiting that happening.

In reality, you'll probably find that the school stall for long enough for you to get to the school.

If you have serious concerns then I would speak to your solicitor.

Thats ridiculous - makes you wonder what the bloody hell the court order is actually for then?

If you don't want him to 'just turn up' on your days then the same should go vice versa though.

If he starts doing it then go in on his next day for the child and take the child. He'll soon learn his lesson.

Very poor advice there Jane.

If you really need to stop him taking the child little miss then you need a prohibitive steps order.

I agree retaliating by taking the child on "his" next day is poor advice. Potentially it puts the child in the position of witnessing outbursts of temper between parents which causes emotional harm. The detrimental effects of a cycle of parents' provocation and retaliation on children's wellbeing are well documented and children need at least on parent who can put the child's interests first. When parents retaliate in this way it gives them a big black mark with the courts and it will be more difficult to sort out as both parents will be perceived as being as bad as each other. You need to be the bigger person.

If your ex doesn't adhere to the terms of a Child Arrangement Agreement/Order the correct thing to do is to go back to court, although it may be better to wait until there have been two or three instances so you can show there is a pattern to the behaviour.

Thanks. I certainly would be retaliating, Im trying to stop all the confusion thats going on for the kids sake, but Im sat here at work thinking, and its just something he would do, not cause he wants the kids, cause he knows it would worry me.

So if he doesnt adhere to the order, I go back? This includes him not having them / not turning up on his days etc? Do you know what I complete and file to court (just in case, not if but WHEN!)

The courts won't force a parent to care for children so if your ex doesn't take up contact as stipulated there isn't much point going to court to enforce the order. I would suggest making contingency plans for the days your ex has contact instead if at all possible. Keep a diary and if contact isn't taken up on a regular basis you can go back to court and ask for a variation to the terms of the order to reflect the reality of the situation, if necessary.

TO apply for a variation or Specific Issue Order when there are no other court proceedings taking place you use Form C100. If there are ongoing proceedings, you complete a C2 form rather than C100.

Thanks STIDW

Yes, it's very annoying. You cannot force contact. My children's father chooses to have them 0 nights a year when he could have them 170 nights if he wanted. Presumably that's the only way he feels he can hurt me (and he obviously does not want to see them). The parent can apply to court to see the child but the child and resident parent have no right to make the non resident parent see the child or do even one second of child care even if the resident parent works full time as I do.