What goes into a section 7 report?

[JoJo2106]

Hi,

I have posted this on legal but posting it here too incase any of you have any experience of this.

My ex and I are currently going through the family court and have been since June. After the June hearing we were ordered to do a Scott schedule and statements etc as the next hearing was to see if a fact finding hearing was needed. It turned out they didn't think it was necessary, so all the allegations and statements I wrote were basically unheard. My ex has no contact at the moment with ds due to safeguarding issues.

At our last hearing a couple of weeks ago the court have ordered a section 7 report to be done by CAFCASS which I understand can take 3 months to complete. Can anyone tell me exactly what goes into these reports and the sort of stuff I will be asked? Who else will they contact etc? I would also like to know if I can speak to the cafcass officer when they come to see me about the allegations i wrote down for the fact finding hearing and show any evidence i have to back it up. Can this be fed into the section 7 report so I can get my concerns heard this way? I am hoping I can as it was so frustrating to write all that stuff downand get evidence together all for a fact finding hearing not to happen. So I am.kind of hoping if I can speak to the cafcass officer about it they can get it into the report somehow? Or at least to be able to show them I am not a liar as my ex is making out.

We have also been ordered to go to a spip course but looking online about it it seems to say these are suitable only if there have been no safeguarding concerns which there is. Is this correct?

I can only comment on the SPIP course. These are routinely ordered (no, not for safeguarding issues). I urge you to go. You’ll learn coping strategies (especially co - parenting with a difficult partner).

@NorthernSpirit sorry I have only seen your response now.

Oh yes I don't have a problem with attending if it would help but I was under the impression It wasn't suitable if there are safeguarding issues which there are. I was assaulted by my ex with ds there only months old. I have a personal alarm from victim support and also me and my ex are not in contact and havebt been for 7 months. When my ex does eventually get contact again providing his drug and alcohol tests are ok I won't even see my ex it will be my mum doing handovers I will have no dealing with him whatsoever.

I was more under the impression that these courses are to help you communicate and get on etc but that will not happen as I will not be in his presence again incase I am assaulted again. So is tgis course even suitable for our situation?

Hi OP,

I could have written your post myself a few years ago.

The SPIP is suitable for you, tell them you don't want to be on the same one as your ex - I went on mine and although I didn't find it particularly helpful - the court looked on me very favourably afterwards.

The section 7 does take a while - they speak to the police, doctors, schools etc then speak to you. It becomes pretty factual - what your home is like etc ... I can't find my section 7 otherwise I would give you a blow by blow account of what is it in.

@FinallyFree thank you for that i wasn't sure if it was. Seems a bit of a waste og time in my circumstance considering we won't be in contact and will never ever get on but will still go. I have to anyways as it's court ordered.

Oh that would have been good if you'd have found it. Do you know if I'll be able to feed all the allegations that should have been heard at a fact finding hearing into the section 7 report? It's So frustrating that none of this has been heard by the court.

@JoJo2106 from what I remember you should be able too.
They will only listen to facts though - I think - so if you have reported it to police etc they will pull the reports for themselves instead of looking at what evidence you have if that makes sense.

I'll have a look later and see if I can find our section 7 - my court file is so big it's buried somewhere in the draw
Courts pretty much give whatever that section 7 says or recommends - my solicitor told me to prepare and be very clear and careful what I said when I spoke to cafcass - he repeated that so many times - as in this was the most important part of the whole court case x

@FinallyFree just one thing was reported to police but I do have photos of black eyes etc which are timed and dated. He tried to say I was a liar when he done his reply to the Scott schedule and said I had plucked the allegation out of thin air and because I had forgot to include the time the photo was taken and just the date he had went onto Google maps and drew this little map out to show his whereabouts of that night to show he wasn't with me and called me a LIAR. But he actually was with me, it was early hours of the morning it happened and he had got his little map from the evening after. So this was very frustrating not to get this heard as it was an assault but unfortunately I hadn't reported it to police. But would liketo be able to feed it into the report if i can.

Yeah that would be great if you find it. Not to worry if not don't go out of your way to look for it.

Yes I do feel that this is an important part speaking to cafcass. Do they speak to you at length and do they tell you their findings from doctors police etc?

@JoJo2106
They won't tell you their findings from the doctors etc but they will put it in a chronological time line in the report once they've done it; they send it to you, him and the judge before the court date.
You should have been given a summary of the previous hearing with a date that the report needs to be completed by - normally 2 weeks before your next hearing.

From my experience; they treated the incident you've described as hear say - because it wasn't reported to police. (Again not doubting you) unless you have text messages of him actually saying "yes I hit you" or to that effect.
You can still try to get it in there - they may stop you and say it's not relevant - or they may just not include it if they feel it doesn't change their opinions, but there's nothing stopping you; this is the chance for you to get all your concerns and worries out about his ability to be a parent.
Key thing to try and remember is - it's not if he's a bad partner; it's if he is a bad parent.
They continued to remind me my ex can be a bad partner but a fabulous parent .... as it happens he's bad at both as they now see - but try to keep everything about your child, eg/ he has been violent to me so he could be aggressive to our child - if this is what you believe.( not doubting you in any way just trying to show how they like you to word things!) 

I'll have a flick through everything later on - shouldn't be too hard to find

@FinallyFree yes I see what you're saying about the allegation. Will still mention it and see what happens. Tbh my main concern is is alcohol useage. In the 4 years I was with him he drank every night. I always classed him as a functional alcoholic. Our first hearing was back in June and the court mentioned then that there would be alcohol tests (not ordered at this point) so they basically gave him the heads up to go home and cut down for the next 2 months til our next hearing. Next hearing in August the tests were ordered. Fast forward to october they still arent done. Him an his solucitor have delayed and delayed getting them done giving him more time to cut down to show a better result. He is been tested for 6 months. If those tests were done in June when they were first mentioned it woukd show his true drinking habits whereas now the court could probably praise him for cutting down but he's only done it for the fact he's getting tested. It's a total farce honestly. He's had 4 months to cut down and he will cos he likes to win.

I ended the relationship when ds was only 2 weeks old, I didn't want him.exposed to his heavy drinking or any aggression
Ds is 1 now and hasn't seen my ex since he was 7 month after he assaulted me while he was holding ds as he tried to run off with him. He drove a car early hpurs of the morning with ds in only days old after sat up drinking all night. This was the final straw for me and I ended it shortly after.

My worry is he will just go straight back to how he's akways drank afyer this is over which I know he will. He comes from a family of heavy drinkers and his mother and uncle both died of alcoholism. Ds is a baby with no voice of his own and am terrified of what will happen. He doesn't even know how to care for him.properly and even less so now ds is older an walking etc. It's such a worry, and all the times he's assaulted me has nearly always been in drink so how do I know he won't harm ds.

I feel the courts are very laid back about e everything. They just want contact an this happy Apple pie world but it's not reality.

Thank you you've been very helpful.