Current CAO has been in place for 5yrs and was made before my dd was diagnosed with ASD, she is now 7.5 and has always struggled with contact especially the longer periods during school holidays. She has a SLT and EP involved currently and applying for an EHCP.
Her DF doesn’t believe she has ASD and fails to understand how much it impacts her, he has failed to have consistent contact with DD outside of seeing her every other week and has limited contact with her school (not attending parents evenings) and the professionals involved both present and past.
I am looking to have the long stays amended to help DD cope. Currently (I say currently, it’s always been this way) she’ll get extremely anxious before going to her dads, refusing to eat and sometimes even vomiting in the car, trouble sleeping and withdrawing in general. School has noted her anxiety along with the fact she will often tell teachers she misses me during the day along with difficulty with changes and signs of masking (zoning out etc). I’ve told her DF all of this and his response is always she is fine despite him handing off care to family members or external activities. To add to this once she is back home she’ll become agressive, anxious (not wanting to leave the house) and again difficulty with sleep. I’ve asked her before when she is angry who she is angry at and she has said DF but only lashes out at me.
With regard to varying the order I would be looking at shortening the longer stays, and have more frequent but shorter stays (need to think of what would be best). With the alternative weekends I don’t think there’s much I could do as my ex lives a distance away so logistically it wouldn’t work but perhaps suggest video calls, I had suggested this before but he always declines.
I just wanted to see if anyone else has gone through or going through the same with a child that has ASD and what the outcome has been. I have found a solicitor it’s just currently the cost and weighing up the outcomes!