CAO help. I'm applying so my dds father only has supervision contact

[SleepsAThingOfThePast]

I will try to keep short and factual

Dds dad was violent towards us.
I kicked him out 2 months ago. He was arrested and bailed.
Bail ended now there's a NMO in place until March 2027.
He's seeen dd Once supervised with a social worker 2 weeks ago.

I have been advised by my social worker to apply for a CAO. So that his contact with dd is only supervised. I want a contact centre only as I do not trust him nor his family. There's no mutual person who can do this either on a regular basis.

Is this likely to happen and how often should the contact be at first.
Do i take dd to the contact centre and collect at set times.
Fwiw he hadn't denied any abuse and all recorded.

You'd have a strong case as all of the issues are documented with professionals.
My advice is don't be convinced to offer too much.
How old is DD as this will have a bearing on the type of pattern the court would want to see.
Younger children tend to be little and often particularly at first. The judge would be looking to make an order that doesn't need to be amended constantly and is clearly defined as to whether progress is to be made towards unsupervised and over what period of time or whether it will be supervised for a long period of time.
Normally contact centres have a system for dropping off and collecting so that the parents don't meet.

She's 9. That was the fear we'd bump into each other there .
Do you know who pays for the centre.

I don't I'm afraid, your social worker should be able to advise, as far as I know who pays can be decided as part of the CAO, if I remember rightly it can be split between the parents or in some cases paid for by the local authority

Why apply for a CAO - make him do it

You dont apply for the CAO ..he applies to have contact. The SW is trying to get you to make their decisions for them by getting you to prohibit contact. If you do it it means SS bypass any ownership of managing contact (which they wont do unless child is LAC) and they won't want to foot the bill for supervised contact.

So do nothing other than make safe decisions if he applies for contact.

I know someone who has applied for a cao to formalize dad no longer having contact and now she is living hell the child guardian has accused her of alienation despite dv to mum and weird aggressive behaviour to daughter and they are threatening change or residency to dad or foster care. It’s unbelievable and I wouldn’t believe it if I hadn’t read the reports.
I really don’t think you should go near a family court as it’s such a gamble and if you do please wait a year or two when she will be older so her views will be considered better. Read Dr proudman book he said she said to see how bad it can get.

Thank you for all of the advice. It's so conflicting and scary.