Hi there, I’m a newbie To this site and in desperate need of a little guidance. Long story short, I left my narcissistic abusive ex 2months ago and we have a 4months old son. I got a court order to prevent him from harrasing me or coming by the house. His family have been in contact through my sis in law (agreed intermediaries) and they have been trying to take our son away at the weekends, which we politely declined until something legal was in place but we offered contact at one of our family homes - assuring him it will Be undisturbed and comfortable so that he can bond. Obviously we didn’t state that we wanted this also because we wanted it supervised due to his behaviour. He declined this on the basis he would feel vulnerable- he’s never met my family and they’ve been nothing but polite! Unlike his sister who threatened to have me sorted out - hence going to courts to get an order. We finally agreed that interim contact will be made through a contact centre and he put forward a suggestion of mediation instead of courts. This didn’t come easily as they told us we wasted time going to court for the non molestation order - (basically they haven’t acknowledged that he’s done anything wrong because it didn’t go to a finding of fact hearing) and he lied about everything, including trying to strangle me. I agreed but the mediator has deemed the case unsuitable. Now I’m scared of having to inform them that the mediation was deemed unsuitable and what may happen next. I think I’ll wualify for legal aid but petrified of going t court and the judge issuing overnight orders or something sooner rather than later. My ex is emotionally abusive and has been physically abusive to me and I’m scared that he will harm our son when he can’t cope (he has barely taken care of our son, and the one time he had to stay up all night with him because I slept through 7 alarms from exhaustion he punished me with silent treatment for three days) and the other time he got so angry that the baby wouldn’t settle. I sm very confused as to what u should do, I know the case got deemed unsuitable but should I have pushed for it, in an attempt to get some stuff sorted even though I’m scared and convinced he won’t agree to supervised visits or should I let him take me to a court where again I’m scared of what judge will agree but then maybe I can fight for supervised visits. I’m sorry if it sounds like I’m rambling, but I don’t really have anyone that I can talk to about this. I’ve been deemed high risk by MARAC and referred for CBT to help with the stress. Any help/advice would be sincerely appreciated. If I have to go to court what should I expect? Is there an element of mediation there before a judge decides? Should I apply for a CAO or wait for him to apply