Good Evening,
I'm wondering if anyone has any advice.
My wife were together for 7 years. We have a 3 year old together. When he was born, my ex partner refused to have anything to do with him for several months. This was eventually put down to post-natal depression.
Over the following year, whenever I got home from work I would be told 'he's your problem now' and this would continue throughout my cycle of shifts. During the night, my ex would refuse to get up and see him if he was crying.
At one point my ex claimed she was hearing voices in her head telling her to hurt me and my son.
During 2022 she had a couple of pregnancy scares and it came out she had been having an affair. This was resolved and we moved on. Or so I thought. At the start of 2023 she fell pregnant and, as far as I know, she is mine. During March of 2023 my ex kicked me out suddenly. No warning or anything. I was just told to leave.
For the following months I was allowed to see my son. Then suddenly my ex made accusations, such as I was abusing him and refused to allow me to have any contact. I was interviewed by the police and NFA. My ex was told by the police to let me see him. She then reported me to social services, claiming domestic abuse against her. Again there was no evidence and she was told to let me see my son. Again she refused. My ex then made many accusations. I again asked to see my son. My ex stated that I can see him in a supervised visit centre. I'm not sure if anyone knows, but they are not cheap. I explained to her I could not afford this and she told me to take her to court.
I started court proceedings and have now had a home visit from CAFCAS. CAFCAS have asked the ex what she wanted to happen and the ex said she wanted supervised visits so that's now what CAFCAS have asked for and to protect me from any further allegations.
I currently pay £550 in maintenance payments. I have looked on the CMS website and it says costs in relation to keeping in contact with the children can be taken into account, such as fuel. Can I ask CMS to take this into account, otherwise I would simply not be able to afford to see my children because of her demands.
hi
if fuel cost for contact is £10 a week or more, you should be able to claim special expenses from CMS, and also for contact centre costs. you should be able to report these expenses in your online cms account.
Hi you can try to work with CAFCASS or request a SARs of all their reports and hand written notes to see why they have sided with mother. or go to court yourself (C100 form ) why do they think it's in your or your son best interests to see dad this way.All allegations she makes against you must be proven. so it looks like you could got to family court if CAFCASS wont work with you. present what you have from police NFA as its the judge that makes the final decision. and they don't just side with mothers its a open fair hearing. support through court for free advice and McKenzie friends are awesome.look up on youtube. contact Ex via parenting app only there are free ones out there.record all contact, stay away stay calm its about your son not her. CMS yes hard work why would ex want you to see son and have regular contact when shes getting your hard earned money.once you get regular visits and if son stays over the CMS rate reduces further and as stated you can claim travel as a reduction.good luck
So when I spoke with CAFCAS, they said they think supported contact with my son would be advisable- because they don't know what my ex-partner has been saying to him for him to alledgely make these comments and also because my ex-partner has refused any kind of contact May to ensure that we are both able to cope.
Since then, CAFCAS have spoken with my ex-partner and my ex-partner has said she wants supervised contact. They have agreed. When they wrote to me and told me, they said it was to 'precentor any further malicious allegations' which I completely understand... but that can't go on forever.
I spoke with the CSA yesterday and they said I can only claim fuel, not for the contact centre... even though its so I can have contact with my children.
Does anyone have any experience of claiming the Co tact centres?