NRP Parental Access - EA

[WatchaGonnaDo]

I was hoping someone could offer some advice or signpost to a family legal organisation.

DD2 10 has been having severe anxiety/behavioural difficulties for a number of years which myself and a number of professionals/school have been unable to get to the bottom of.

We are going down the route of a medical diagnosis but she has finally found a CAMHS worker she can open up to and is stating that she is experiencing EA from dad (not her exact words but this is the gist of it really), her younger sibling (8) is backing this up as she has also been at the last two CAMHS meetings. CAMHS nurse and doctor have met dad and have expressed concerns.

DD1 does not want to continue overnight access, neither does DD2 but are happy to see him for a few hours every other week.

Do they have the right to state this and can he force them to have overnight access? CAMHS have already advised me to consider if access is the best for her, however he is very intimidating and has an ex BIL who is a solicitor so tends to make up what rights he has.

Many thanks for any advice.

If there is no court order in place you can do whatever you want but be careful you don't act in ways the courts will think are unreasonable. If there is a court order you need to go back to court to get the order amended if you want to remove overnight stays.

Basically, their dad doesn't have rights to contact, nor do you, it's about the best interests of the children, though there is a starting assumption that it is in the best interests of children to have a close relationship with both parents. If you can convince the judge that in this case it's definitely not in the best interests of your children to have overnight visits, then the judge won't force them to have that contact.

Convincing the judge is the problem, this is when documentation comes into play, and talking to your lawyer.

ask CAMHS to set this in writing then implement it.

Thank you all for responding. I have spoken to him calmly explaining the situation whilst making it clear I was not making any accusations or demands, however I had to listen to what DD was feeling due to her other problems and he was okay to speak to CAMHS himself for further details. Surprisingly, although upset, he has agreed that it would be in her best interests to give her some breathing space for now and work with her in resolving whatever issues she has with him.