[Solved] CAFCASS Letter

Have you contacted your Solicitor or CAFCASS about this?

If not tell your Solicitor what she has put on Facebook and take it up with him tomorrow. I am very surprised you have not heard from CAFCASS, was their report ordered at the first/earlier hearing?...

It is important that you tell your Solicitor this information. There is very little you can do unfortunately until the Court hearing tomorrow.

She should not be putting things like this on Facebook!

Dave I would strongly advise you to screenshot her comments otherwise they may disappear before you know.

No agency can recommend without investigating facts.

I am learning from experience, assume she is lying till proven otherwise.........

Plus she may just be doing this knowing you will read to wind you up.

Stay cool wait for the facts, and if there is any truth in this appeal........

Best of luck matey.......

...I would also advise a screenshot of her comments.

I cant see how CAFCASS can complete a report, or give any recommendations to the court without having interviewed you both....Having said that in my sons case CAFCASS didnt get to interview his ex despite their attempts to arrange it, she didnt make herself available. They were still able to raise safeguarding issues and make recommendations to the court though because of the police and social services reports. The judge however, chose to ignore these facts! So nothing surprises me Dave 😡

If there is any substance to your ex's facebook comments then I would hope that your solicitor will point out that you have not had a chance to speak to CAFCASS and also to mention that she is breaching confidentiality by discussing it on facebook!

I am assuming that your solicitor has arranged to meet you before the hearing to go over things...when you arrive at court, ask to speak to the CAFCASS officer before you go in front of the judge, get there in good time to do this.

Best of luck Dave x

I attended court today and got to read the letter from CAFCASS.

In essence the letter contains a list of allegations, some really easy to disprove, from my ex and then says that based on these they would not give me residency without a full report to investigate. I think that social services will investigate and there will be a fact finding hearing??

They deemed that it was unessesary to speak to me as I had a 5 minute chat with a CAFCASS officer when last in court??

The letter also goes onto say that they have concerns over her behaviour.

The letter is not really as the FB comment suggested.....I know you told me so.

In terms of the hearing the judge has allowed me to drug test her going back 12 months. Arrange examinations of her medical records and get her independantly assesed by a consultant.

She has also submitted a full position statement which has been seen by the court and they have now allowed me to submit mine.....seems her solicitor boobed.

Next hearing September.

It seems that there is all still to play for......Its going to cost a lot of money but what price can I put on our childrens future?

Thanks to you all...

I think that's quite positive Dave!

The judge has been very good to go back 12 months for drug testing and the independent assessment of her medical condition should go in your favour. Getting to see her Position Statement before you submit yours is good too! It gives you a chance to address some of her allegations.

Well done thus far! 🙂

I don't know a great deal about fact finding hearings but I' m sure there are people here that do, and I shall do my own research so that I can help further...your legal team will of course brief you too!

Hi Dave 🙂

I've had a quick look around for more info on fact finding hearings, and from what I can gather the judge will order this when there have been DV allegations made....although there seems to be no consistency in this, as there are many here that have had false allegations made against them and fact finding hearings have not been ordered. Anyway perhaps as there has been allegations, as well as the complexities of medical/psych history the judge is erring on the side of caution in wanting to get to the bottom of it.

Heres a link to The Custody Minefield website which gives a comprehensive explanation of fact finding hearings.

www.thecustodyminefield.com/mobile/FamilyLawMenu.html#/mobile/contestedhearings.html

Dad-i-d has had direct experience of a fact finding hearing so hopefully he will post and give you some info on what to expect. You can input "Fact Finding Hearing" into the search engine here too. 🙂

Hmmmm just tried to use the search engine here and it doesnt seem to be working!

Hmmmm just tried to use the search engine here and it doesnt seem to be working!

I think that's on the 'to do list' 🙂

Hopefully Dad-i-dad will see this post and point you in the right direction.

Hi NannyJane,

Yes there are allegations of DV and DA.

I submitted a C1a right at the begining and she now has stated that I abused her. Emotional abuse is what has been alledged.

My head is still a bit of a blur from the hearing so I will wait for my solicitor to confirm exactly what is next but Im sure the judge said fact finding hearing.

I think that Im in good shape regards her allegations so not overly concrned although who knows as the law can be fickle.

If Dad-i-d or anyone else with experience can comment or contribute further to my understanding so I can prepare Id be grateful.

I was looking over old mails and text from my ex tonight and she really thought Id have no access after yesterdays hearing so yesterday seems have to went OK and leaves me with oportunity when I thought things were grim.

Thanks again to everyone....:-)

Regards,

Dave

Did you get an interim contact order Dave?

At the first hearing which was leave to abridge service I have contact every other weekend and every Wednesday, this was April 26th. At the hearing on Friday there was no change to this.

I am seeking residency though.

Of course! Senior moment there I'm afraid Dave! 😆

A Fact finding hearing is basically where the allegations raised, by both parties, and supported or not supported by the relevant agencies will be considered by the Court and questions asked and answered by the parties and/or experts. Fact Finding hearings are not just limited to DV, they could relate to injuries to a child to, or other harm. Just be honest in your statement.

You are extremely lucky the Judge has said to go back 12 months for drug testing, normally it is 6 months.

You have the opportunity of seeing the ex Position Statement, and you now have chance to reply to it.

Hand all the emails you have received from your ex over to your solicitor, they might be necessary to form part of your statement. Tell them about the text you have received too, they may want to transcribe them, I have done this myself in the past, so do not get rid of them.

Hi all,

Turns out no fact finding hearing required.

The judge wishes to cut to the chase and allowed drugs testing and an independant medical assesment.

May be be cause her allegations were a bit wild and, I think, had holes in them.

Regards and thanks,

Dave

That's great news! Full steam ahead then 🙂

Yes...:-)

Sorry I missed this thread,

Firstly the search field is at the top left of the screen on most pages I think, I’ve used it quite a lot when looking for answers before posting just to see what has been said before.

The Emotional Abuse card is what my ex has since been trying to claim having been proven a liar by her finally admitting I’d never hit her. However that is from my side easily proven I’ve suffered the emotional abuse by her preventing contact with my child.

Its easy for someone like your ex to spread lies about you and it seems to be “the norm” the father is generally the one who then has to disprove them…….you’re guilty until proven innocent!

I do have to admit there is simple reasoning behind it like:
Child protection mistakes by various social services/health authorities etc… leading to kids being abused or dying.
Domestic abuse mistakes by the police etc… leading to girlfriends/wives/ex’s being killed by male partners.
So you can see why the courts “act first and ask questions later”. The problem is that our ex-partners also know this and use it to hurt and control us when we don’t do as they want. My gut feeling is that like the advice we get from here and Pro-dads rights sites the mothers will get advice on how to win too!
In the majority of cases mothers are the defendants in legal action, the fathers are the applicants because the mothers are refusing to the fathers see their children or controlling how they see them, where they see them etc…

I know I’m probably “on my soap box” here but…..when the courts say contact must resume if there are no welfare issues why are the mothers allowed to continue fighting and costing the fathers money they’ll never get back!!??

Hi Dad-I-Dad

Basically you are right! I think that women continued fighting because they want that father out of their new family life with the partner, and control of you too and/or they are angry at the separation because of adultery etc. They all know now that in order to get legal aid for instance, allegations of violence have to be made. However even that has been made harder now, as they have to prove it, eg police reports, doctors or hospital reports, before they even get granted legal aid.

Therefore women will have to stop raising malicious accusations. They wont get legal aid to fight applications. I am afraid that the only other allegation which is raising its ugly head now is abuse, both physical and sexual, on the children. I say ugly head in that it is often made up and as you know, it is dirt that sticks 🙁