How do I go about cutting back access with an existing court order in place?

[Gizmo100]

My ex husband has a court order in place that stipulates the access he has to my daughter - 24 hours over the weekend. Can anyone advise how I go about cutting the access on the court order and how easy is this to do? Unfortunately my daughter has come back to me over the last month or so black and blue with cuts that are really bad (not your normal plays bruises) and for one incident she needed to see a doctor. There are other neglect issues too. Hope someone can help - im at the end of my rope Ive told him to take better care but all I get is a wee girl black and blue and having to explain to the nursery its not my fault

if he is causing her harm you must stop contact immediately. If he chases it insist on supervised contact only. I think social services might step in if they feel you are letting this continue. I really don't think she should go to see him again, at least until you have supervision in place.

If your ex is not keeping your daughter safe and is more than your usual cuts/bumps then screw what an order says.

But before you do this, have you spoken to your ex regarding whats happened? Does he have a logical explanation?

When was your court order made?

If you have any concerns then you should first discuss then with the father and then other appropriate bodies such as CAFCASS.

I would not advocate breaching a court order - it is up to you to bring the matter back to court or to the attentions of bodies such as CAFCASS.

If you breach a court order then your ex is quite within his rights to bring the matter back to Court for enforcement of breach of court orders for contact which has been made in the best interests of the child...

anyone else that says that you should just breach a court order and "screw what the order says" is leaving you wide open for sanctions being taken against for breach of a court order...,

in fact I'm surprised at a) you let her go back to him after the first set of bruises and b) you haven't already been contacted by social services to find out what happened to your daughter, as I'm sure doctors and nurseries are legally obliged to take it further where there is evidence of physical abuse of children

You should photograph the injuries and inform the nursery and the GP that the injuries are happening while she is in the care of her father. They should know what should be done as a matter of urgency - this is basic child protection, surely.

I would have expected both nursery and GP to be onto this pronto.

So your first port of call is to keep records of any bruises etc which you consider not to be accidental.

Can you expand on these bruises and what happened when you took the child to the doctors?

Your first port of call is the GP and let them take it from there. If your Court case is quite recent then contact CAFCASS and take advise from them. If you deem the matter serious enough then speak with SS.

Remember though that no-one, not even CAFCASS or SS has the authority to prevent contact when there exists a court order in place.

It is up to you to take the matter back to court.

How old is your DD? Old enough to tell you about how she came by the injuries? Have you asked him about them?

You must act. She will be looking to you to protect her from him.

go to GP, keep good records, photos.

report to CAFCASS duty officer immediately.

call SS and give your concerens.

speak to your solicitor.

you can get an urgent court hearing, I cant rememebr the technical term for this, on the day, to review the court order.

Agree with the others. Get your GP to make a record of the injuries (so it's not just your word against his) and get onto to a solicitor immediately. You can seek an interim order restricting contact to a supervised centre which can be done on an urgent basis and then later there will be a full court hearing.