Psychological assessments for family

[cafcassconcerns]

Can anyone explain what is involved in this please? Cafcass have recommended psychological assessments for parents and the children due to ongoing proceedings. Dad was/is abusive to mum and was physically abusive at Christmas to one dc and there's been no contact since except cafcass/court ordered phone calls. Abused dc refuses to have calls though.

How does this process go please? The assessments are unlikely to take place until next year because of long waiting times.

Hopeful bump

The court order, if made, sets out the terms of reference for the expert, who would have been identified. The party proposing use of an expert issues an application with draft order and CV of the expert.

It's the guardian who is recommending a psychological assessment. Something about concerns over family dynamics. I'm just wondering what the assessment involves and what the court uses the information for.

The birth parents of children being adopted have an assessment. It's interviews/conversations basically. They try and understand what level of need the parents have, whether they will be capable of caring for the child, how their relationships work.

I don't think it's anything to be scared of, and don't try to hide anything. Honesty about mistakes, difficult areas, will show you understand the situation and can work to resolve it.

The children are more worried than anyone else. What sort of things are asked? What do the court hope to achieve from the assessment. It's very simple that dad is abusive and she doesn't want contact. She's 14. Surely she can choose?

They will be very appropriate with her. Remember, I suppose, that they don't know anything about her- whether she is able to have an opinion different from yours, whether she is of typical intelligence and understanding for her age.

They want to check that she is able to make an informed and sensible decision, in the usual context of being 14.

The assessment won't be until around Easter due to waiting lists! Cafcass have totally ignored the abuse from dad and said mum is the issue and are even querying if the dc need to live elsewhere.

It will be interviews, questionnaires etc. Don’t worry about it. No one should be horrible or inappropriate.

That's just giving you more time, so don't worry.
It's not good that cafcass haven't seen through him, but I'd expect the psych to.

He's been making out I'm the crazy exW since before I was even a wife so I'm worried as he has Cafcass totally fooled. Court is his favourite weapon after the dc of course.

I was in a similar situation. My son disclosed sexual abuse at 4 yrs old. He described pornographic images and said he had seen them at his dads. Contact was stopped and fact finding took place 2 years later. No contact during this time. As no findings were made, court see no risk to child from having unsupervised contact with father. Son is now 7 and saw him for the first time in almost 3 yrs 2 months ago. Cafcass wanted both myself and son to have psychological assessment to see if I was suffering from a “mental health condition which prevented me from accepting the findings” and to see if I could be cured!!! I don’t believe I suffer from one, but I still find it hard to understand why my 4 year old described what he did and why he was displaying sexualised behaviour. No one has ever given me answers or possible explanations for this if it didn’t happen the way he told me. The judge did not think I had made it up so I can only assume he believed the behaviour I described but blamed me for pointing finger at dad because of my negative feelings towards him (history of DV, swept under court carpet). Bottom line is, judge didn’t agree psychological assessment was necessary thankfully and if I don’t promote contact, I run the risk of losing my son. The fear of this is enough to tip me over the edge, as all I have done is try to protect my son. It is an absolute living hell.

Yosemite78 - so sorry to hear this. Guardian wanted me to have a psychological assessment as I was against contact in principle as gs's father was a violent thug. She believed it was "youthful indiscretion" and I was deeply entrenched in my negative beliefs.

Judge was somewhat ambivalent. Some of the parties involved wanted to do them, I didn't because I knew I was right, which of course makes me sound rather mad.

Contact order was made ignoring the issues we raised. Six months later he attacked a disabled man and six months after that put someone in intensive care for 7 days in an unprovoked attack. It is hard to believe the way we were treated in court and I have struggled to get over it for years. It is so hard being disbelieved when you are only trying to protect the child.

Fwiw, his Probation Officer raised real concern in his report about his escalating offending and lack of remorse. He had been offending since 14 and he was then 36. Just a slight indiscretion then Cafcass.

Op, I hope you get the outcome you hope for.

I'm sorry to hear that others are going through this. There's a threat of the dc going to live with their abusive dad. Cafcass need a serious shake up. They aren't fit for purpose. I'm actually looking forward to the Psychological assessment as I have nothing to fear there whereas him with his narcissism might have cause for concern.

ElsieMc - I’m lost for words. That is absolutely shocking. I cannot understand why they fail to see what is in front of them. How on earth is having a man like that in a child’s life a positive thing. It is crazy. Does he still have contact with your child ?

Cafcassconcerns - I too would have gone through with the assessment if my ex had to be assessed too, as I think it may have showed his narcissistic traits. The way the draft order was worded was all about looking for evidence I was not capable of promoting contact. It even said they weren’t to comment on anything the child may say about his allegations as no findings were made against dad so it was more or less irrelevant ! I really do fear for my child as I believe he will be punished by his father for speaking out as soon as we have final order. Up until then I think he will play by the rules. He is an abuser and will never change. I need to deal with that and not make myself look crazy by trying to get cafcass to see it. Good luck