If your child's parent started with supervised contact.. what contact did they end up with once you had your final hearing?

[Courtnightmares]

Its a family court one.
Ex currently only has contact centre visits. Its so grim, far away, expensive and DD hates travelling there.

Ex wants unsupervised contact but denies all allegations of domestic abuse despite finding of facts made against him.

He denies any need for therapy or domestic abuse intervention.

If your ex was like this or similar, what happened in the end?.

Following as i will be in the same position

Mine ended with Cafcass recommending no direct contact take place between the dad and children.

He was allowed to write to them but not see them.

He never bothered to write but did send Xmas and birthday cards.

Was he having supervised to begin with?

My DD was in this position. Her ex also denied the abuse even though he was arrested and held in the cells overnight.
At the final hearing ex was granted 4 hours every other weekend, but building up to unsupervised. From what I can remember the build up was:
4 sessions (I.e 2 months) supervised by DD in community;
Followed by 4 sessions with ex and ex MIL supervised by someone other than DD (DD used her childminder)
Then 8 sessions with ex and ex MIL
Finally after 8 months he could move to unsupervised, but he cancelled so many contacts it was nearly a year before he reached that point.
DDs main concern was his drinking which led to the abuse, so the final order permits her to breathalyse him at handover and if he fails (or refuses) she can withhold contact.
Fortunately he doesn't drive so he can't take DGC far.
Hooe this helps.

No contact order.
I don't believe the abuse was "that bad". But his refusal to see he had done anything wrong and ingage in the process. Also his behaviour towards the children in the contact centre was reported as being "disinterested and disconnected".

My ex was granted no contact - domestic violence situation.
Be careful nobody suspects you of parental alienation.

Did he start off with supervised contact?

Yes. He was on supervised contact.

Mine ended when his legal aid ran out before the final hearing (this was 19 years ago though) and he didn't turn up
He had his parental responsibility revoked.
When DD was 10 she asked for contact, which lasted less than 3 months.

Hello,

Please advise me.

The court has ordered that there be no direct contact between the child and the father until the next hearing, which is in 2 months time. The father has been accused of physical, mental, and domestic abuse.

Father has now made an appeal, denying all the allegations. He also mentioned that I am alienating my child from him.

Has anyone gone through this situation? Will the judge override the decision made by the three magistrates? Will my child go back to 50/50 and start staying with his dad?

He is clearly not ready yet and going for counselling since September 2024.

The reason it has gone up from Magistrate level to DJ is due to the parental alienation accusation as magistrates are not allowed to do these cases if they feel this is potentially a factor.

However the finding of fact was clear and I cannot see how this finding could be changed.. particularly as it is based in the balance of probability unlike criminal court test which is beyond reasonable doubt.

So you've 2 factors at play now.. the appeal and then the PA accusation.

I've seen all sorts of final outcomes from a starting point of supervised contact but never where 50/50 was a final outcome. It's such a stretch....I.mean it could happen years down the line but then child will be older and will effectively vote with their feet anyway.

Thank you so much. tbh I don't know how to say to the DJ that I am not alienating my child. This is why I am sending my child to weekly therapy sessions.

In the appeal, they haven't asked me to respond or fill out any forms in return. Even no Cafcass or social services officer would attend that day.

How long does supervised contact stays for?

I'm just so stressed because I just don't know how my child would react. He been self harming himself for last 3 months.

They won't ask CAFCASS to attend as they gave their reasons for recommendation already and aren't now going to change their mind.

Contact has to move on in some way...be it increase or decrease.

What was the next step after supervised in a contact centre? Usually your order will stipulate time frames etc as a contact centre is not tenable. What have CAFCASS recommended?

May be worth making your own thread.

How did your situation turn out OP?

He has overnights every other weekend and once in the week. Its going to take time to adjust.

How did that happen op? From supervised only to overnight? Seems such a stretch. How is it going?

I am waiting for my court date.