Section 7

[Pebbledashery]

Hi all. Is it common for a Section 7 report to be ordered in children's proceedings when there's been domestic violence and abuse?

Bump

Yes. I went through that when I had court with my sons father a couple of months ago. It allows Cafcass to speak to the child and report on their feelings where appropriate

Pretty standard in this kind of situation I think x

Thank you. My daughter is only little. Cafcass did their safeguarding letter and didn't endorse interim contact because of the documented violence.. Judge went against that and gave him one hour supervised in the community with an independent social worker who he's paying for.. What contact did your ex get in the end?

My son ended up having supervised (by me) FaceTime contact three days per week. That lasted for six months during the court proceedings. Because my son is a teenager they asked him how often he would like to see his dad, he said twice a week. He said that he said this because he thought if he said not at all at the moment he would never see his dad again. Unfortunately he spoke to Cafcass alone and they didn't explain things well enough to him to put his mind at ease, despite knowing that he was going through counselling for the violence he had witnessed.

There was also drug issues with my ex but he was able to provide them with a clean drug test 4 months after it was requested, so ended up getting unsupervised contact once per week arranged one week in advance. For the first six weeks it was supervised by my family member and now it's just a regular routine. Touch wood things have been ok.

That's good that you have a social worker to supervise, sounds like they have taken it seriously. I had a different judge for the second hearing and she was awful and didn't take anything about the domestic violence seriously, I felt that the proceedings were very much in favour of making him happy x

Well it was my ex's Barrister that put forward the independent social worker suggestion, I get to speak to her prior to contact taking place so I will tell her what I need to without appearing manipulative - what's more is that I want contact to actually go well for my daughters sake, I don't want her to be distressed.
I felt like that on Monday, the Judge was absolutely awful.. but on reflection I think it's because our hearing was late and he was probably fed up! he was very terse towards Barristers!! the draft order has come out today and there are a few changes which I am positive about so it's likely he's had time to think about it!
Did you have documented proof of the DV? the DV I suffered was documented by the Police, Social Services, MARAC and now CAFCASS have bought a few things to light also.

Unfortunately not, I only had records with the gp so the court requested my medical records however my solicitor did not get them forwarded in time for the hearing so they weren't taken in to consideration. It was a bit of a joke and the judge dismissed talking to the barristers and spoke directly to us instead. It was awful I was completely put on the spot and at one point she said to me that I need to take responsibility for the situation and what has happened.

However it is pretty settled now and the final hearing they did listen to Cafcass following the section 7 so that's a positive.
It sounds like they will take the situation more seriously for you, stick to your guns and don't feel pressured in to compromising where you're not comfortable x

@theonewithnousername well his barrister seems to think this is a not a no contact case and has already managed to get him interim contact when cafcass couldn't endorse it. He's ramping up the victim card. Don't feel like I stand a chance.

In my case regardless of what his solicitor said Cafcass were pretty vocal and the judge agreed with Cafcass. Sorry you're in such an awful situation, I hope the next court hearing goes in your favour x