Court - scared & confused

[CrazyCatLady159]

Hi - have name changed for this.

Backstory - have a child arrangements order for dd.
Ex partner was involved in dv with new partner & dd witnessed. Was removed by police.
I was granted a PSO ceasing contact until cafcass had done safeguarding.
Cafcass haven't done safeguarding as far as I'm aware. Was suppose to be filed by last month, they haven't.

My question is-:
*Do safeguarding checks need to be carried out before unsupervised contact can happen?
*Can I request that cafcass go and do suitability checks on the home situation as it's flakey at best - he's not living there but still saying he is.
*DD is frightened and is insisting she doesn't want to go back to him / the house - no-one has made contact to speak to dd.

We have a permission hearing to see if permission can be granted to vary / change the child arrangements order.

He seems to think that contact will just flip back to how it was previously however I'm gravely concerned for dd

I don't have legal representation as I have ran out of money having spent over £30,000 fighting him for the past few years.

Hey OP. How old is DD? I would have thought that CAFCASS would want to meet her (maybe depending on age)

Hi!

We went today - they postponed it and rearranged due to cafcass not doing the checks.
They also said that we had been sent away to file a statement yet it had already been submitted previously and it was a procedural error on the courts behalf or something - they've rescheduled it for 3 weeks time and cafcass should have completed safeguarding by then apparently

And dd is 9

Cafcass safeguarding checks include information from the police and relevant local authority Children’s services, sometimes they can be slow to provide the information to Cafcass, or sometimes the court orders which direct Cafcass to undertake the checks in the event of a case with no C100 (such as an emergency PSO) don’t get through. Sometimes they’re just slow!
However, Cafcass won’t recommend anything to the court until the safeguarding has been carried out, at the very least.
The court may direct Cafcass to carry out a Section 7 report if they feel they need more information to make a safe decision for your daughter (they may decide they have enough based on the safeguarding evidence). If they do, things like child’s wishes and feelings are commonly covered in the S7, so the Cafcass Officer would visit your daughter. They can also include home conditions checks if that’s raised as a potential issue which may impact on contact.
If police had to remove your daughter from a violent situation, that’s very significant and the court should take this seriously.

@FenellaVelour thank you!

Her dad seems to think this is a non issue and I am being disruptive to contact - but the judge who issued the pso clearly agreed with me. We have a hearing listed before her in a few weeks anyway so fingers crossed cafcass do their safeguarding checks finally - they've missed 2 previous attempts because I'm very concerned about his lack of insight into his behaviours and the safety of dd - especially her feelings as she's refusing to go there

Is he being prosecuted? Has his new partner ditched him? Do they have kids together?

No he's not being prosecuted - neither of them are.

They did break up for a month; I'm assuming they're back together now; although he told the courts they never have broke up.

She's currently pregnant with his child

I would insist on cafcass speaking to your daughter so she can say how she feels.

@CupoTeap

I've received a cafcass letter saying they're doing checks and will want to speak to myself and my daughter - however we are in court on Monday - so I'm not sure that they've actually realised they don't have time .....

A parent cannot insist that Cafcass speak to the child - that’s down to what the court directs. They won’t be speaking to your daughter unless the court directs a Section 7 report, which is usually only done in cases where there are significant welfare issues that need further assessment, which may well be the case here.

What they should do before the first hearing is undertake the police and local authority checks and interview you both, but they need time to do that. If the hearing has been listed before Cafcass have had time to do the checks, it may be adjourned again. There ought to be a duty Cafcass officer at court to explain and deal with that, though, and they may be able to interview you on the day so at least that would be done.

Hope it goes OK.

@FenellaVelour thank you.

I had an email from cafcass at 3:00pm stating they didn't have any of my contact details to be able to run the checks - they were due at 4pm as we have a hearing tomorrow.
Not sure what to expect now really - especially as the court have moved our hearing to another court .....
I think maybe another adjournment May be happening

Update:

He has been given every other Saturday with a prohibited steps up to prevent his partner being there.
They have also appointed a guardian for dd.
Have set a date for 6 weeks to go back.

I'm not unsure as to why we are going back & what happens now. Do CAFCASS / the guardian now speak to myself & dd to see what we want or to see if they should change the court order?

Ex was pulling up court orders and quoting paragraphs from 4 years ago - so not even our current court order - demanding full custody of dd.

Judge said no; and that he has gone from almost shared care down to weekend contact due to how long he has ignored dd for and due to the significance of the events that caused the prohibited steps to be put up.

The guardian is a Cafcass officer. It’s not common for guardians to be appointed in private law cases, so the court clearly has concerns and want to get to the bottom of them. It also means your daughter will have a solicitor appointed to represent her interests in court, and opens up legal aid funding for any potential assessments or disclosures needed.

The guardian should speak to you and your daughter, yes. The court order should state what role the guardian will play and what the court’s expectation of the guardian would be - for example, to provide an initial position statement or analysis detailing the issues and the steps that need to be taken to address them.

@FenellaVelour thank you :-)

They said we should be back in a month - giving dad 2 contact sessions with dd.

Cafcass haven't been great at handling the case so far and I'm worried for DD's safety - especially after she had a meltdown about seeing her dad when i said she would have to see him.

Hopefully the cafcass Officer will speak to dd and get her feelings because these ultimately are all that matter