He kicked me out and took my son

[444pinkunicorns]

For the last 18 months I have lived with my partner in a property he owns. Today, following an argument he has asked me to move out immediately and has allowed me to take a small bag of my belongings.

We have an 8 week old son together, who he is refusing to allow me to take with me. Currently he is keeping our son away from me and refusing to let me see him, hold him, or take him with me following the break up.

I am our son’s primary caregiver and do pretty much all of the parenting. I have somewhere stable to move into and will be staying close to family.

Can anyone advise on what I should do or what my rights are?

This is what you need to do. It is unlikely the police will do anything because the baby is with a parent. You can say he's unstable. He can say you're unstable. All that will happen is the police do a welfare check to see if baby is OK.

Try to keep calm, OP. The courts take a dim view of this kind of action so make sure you don't muddy the waters by doing anything daft. You must get to court ASAP. Do not delay.

This....phone the police now......and if you have no immediate support...ask to go to emergency woman's refuge....sending you my love and strength ❤️

OP, I would still call the Police as your baby is tiny and then apply for an emergency order.

Phone the police. Immediately.

POLICE and Women’s aid!!!

You take my 8 week old away I am coming in all guns blazing. Plus he doesn't sound very stable to me!

This is abuse. Inform the police and woman's aid immediately. Keep record of everything. Keeping you away from 8 weeks old baby when you're primary care giver is not in interest of the child and will not work in his favour in family court.

You should never have left the property. It's his house but you're allowed notice and he can't just kick you with one bag. If you called the police then and there they would have taken your side. Why haven't you done that?

I think that you should go to a Police Station today and speak to a solicitor on Monday.

https://solicitors.lawsociety.org.uk/

I hope op is safe. This sounds like a potentially volatile situation.

Surely deliberately separating an eight week old baby from its mother is child abuse? This is akin to babies being snatched from unmarried mothers against their will and given to adoptive parents. It is extremely damaging for small babies to be taken from their mums at such a young age.

His behaviour is indefensible and utterly despicable.

Call the police and ask them to complete a welfare check, stating that he is behaving irrationally and you’re breast feeding your baby. If they have no cause for concern when they visit they can’t remove your child if he’s on the birth certificate but it will at least be on record. Call your county’s mash and do the same. Again, children’s services can’t remove your child but at least it’s on record. On Monday you then have to get to a solicitor urgently to take the matter to court.

Call the police immediately. An 8 week old baby can not be separated from its mother without social services involvement it's absolutely crazy your even questioning this. How long have you not had contact with him & where was he when you were packing/leaving ??

It's definitely not in the child's interests, of course not. It's also abusive towards the mother. But the police won't remove a child from a parent unless there is evidence that the child is at risk of immediate significant harm - there is a clear legal threshold for that course of action. That is just not met at this point, based on what OP has said.

Are all dads shit and incapable them?

It'll be on record that she lied.

Just to clear up any misinformation in this thread (such as ‘yeah he can do that’ and ‘the police won’t help’ etc)

OP has legal parental responsibility if she is the biological mother.
As the baby's mother, she automatically has parental responsibility. No one can legally deny her access or take the baby from her without a court order.
Even if the father is named on the birth certificate, he shares parental responsibility but cannot override hers.

The father has no right to prevent contact.
He cannot lawfully keep the baby from her or say she’s ‘not allowed to see’ the baby.
Doing so may amount to child abduction if there’s no agreement or court order in place.

The police can intervene in some cases.
If she believes the baby is at risk of harm or has been taken unlawfully, she should call the police.
The police may do a welfare check or help reunite mother and child depending on the circumstances.

OP can apply urgently to family court.
She can apply for:
A Child Arrangements Order to establish that the child lives with her or to secure contact.
An Emergency Prohibited Steps Order to stop the father from preventing contact or taking certain actions.
A Recovery Order to get the child returned if she has been unlawfully kept away.

Lied about what?

I would be calling the police, not posting on mumsnet. I hope you are safe and with your baby

According to a previous post from OP, this one is shiti and incapable. He doesn't help with the baby and when OP has raised this, he has said that he could easily get another woman and that he wouldn't let her leave with the baby.

Anyway, who has said that all dads are shit and incapable? As Mumsnet is primarily used by women who post when they are in difficult situations and need advice, the 'shit and incapable dads' category will be over-represented on here.

Yep I echo this. The OP has posted before about her partner’s threats to which people have replied ‘no he won’t do that’ and she may have not left an abusive situation because of this.

In these situations, I wish there were paid social workers and police officers who can moderate and respond to what are obviously cries for help.

Police now. Explain he is denying access to your newborn. Also call Women’s Aid - he sounds like a lunatic. Sending love to you x

Don't leave without your child. Call the police if he threatens you.

OP, call your family and ask someone (preferably large and male) to come over right away. Then call the police - your ex partner is being abusive keeping your baby from you - that is child abuse. A new baby needs his mother. Try and stay calm and not escalate the situation. If you feel in danger, go outside and wait for the police there.

@Popsicle1981 are you legally qualified?

The father has no right to prevent contact.
He cannot lawfully keep the baby* from her or say she’s ‘not allowed to see’ the baby.
Doing so may amount to child abduction if there’s no agreement or court order in place.*

In actuality, he can lawfully keep the child from the mother if there is no court order in place. It's not unlawful to deny contact with the other parent unless a court order specifies the contact. Parental responsibility is shared equally between parents but in practice the parent with care of the child makes decisions about who the child spends time with. The parent with care of the child is at this point the father. There is absolutely no legal basis to claim that what he has done is child abduction. It simply is not.