Cafcass report

[catarratto]

Received Cafcass report today pending court hearing for child arrangements order. In it it says there has been no involvement with child services since 2012!!! I have never had any involvement with child services. Could this apply to him and his girlfriend or just me? I've never had a social worker in my life checking on my child's welfare!!!

It should state what involvement there has been. Is this a section 7 report or just a schedule 2 letter?

Have there been referrals to children's services with no action e.g. was there any domestic abuse in your relationship?

You should be able to contact them if there is an inaccuracy.

When CAFCASS wrote their last schedule 2 letter for DHs DCs, his ex was furious to discover that there had been concerns raised about her DCs recorded on the SocServ system that she knew nothing about.

Not all reports to SocServ lead to contact being made with the family - so there may have been calls made to SocServ about your DCs that were never followed up.
They are all disclosed on the Sced 2 letter, though.

It's a letter for the court for a directions hearing following telephone interviews with me and the other party. It's not a section 7 but it doesn't say if it's a section 2 or not.

He has made allegations in the report so maybe it's to do with that but I never heard anything. I thought if they were contacted they have to inform me.

No, they don't have to inform you.
You can give them a call to ask. I had to do that and for some reason they couldn't tell me - data protection probably, I assume I would have needed to have proved who I was - but I was able to guess (I had taken an overdose while my DC was sleeping several years previously, A&E had to call SS, no action was taken) and they were able to say I'd guessed right.

Either way, it says no involvement since 2012 so I wouldn't worry about that at all. There's clearly no issue there.

It's a letter for the court for a directions hearing following telephone interviews with me and the other party.

That's a schedule 2 letter.

It's the first involvement CAFCASS have in any family court case - they are directed by the court on receipt of an application, and provide the information to the court at the first hearing. The court may I order further reports from CAFCASS at the directions hearing - sometimes a "wishes and feelings" report, other times a full Section 7 report, depending on the issues raised, level of hostility and perceived risks.

You're fortunate that you got sent it in advance - DHs and his ex were handed copies of the Schedule 2 letters in the court waiting area immediately prior to the hearing - that's why I know she was angry; she caused a bit of a scene

I did phone the Cafcass officer and ask but ss hadn't sent files so she phoned them. She said they may have looked at the wrong report!! The reports are to be filed with the court when Cafcass receive them, however the hearing is in the next few days. Part of me doesn't want to know, the other party has made some horrible allegations :(