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I am a dad of a 2 year old child who was the result of a short relationship with the mother.
we had split long before he was born and i had intermittent contact for the first year as her new boyfriend refused to let me see him.
When he was 1 ss became involved because of the boyfriends violence and the boy was removed from mum and went to live with his granddad, he spent half the week with grand dad and half with his grand dad. at that time i was living with a gang of boys in accomodation that was not suitable for a child to live in, but i did have contact every week at a famil,y members home.
Roll on 10 months and ss are still involved , child still living with grand dad, I have applied to court for a pr order and for contact ( i want more than 6 hours once a week) . At the same time the grand father has applied for full residency of my child. I always agreed that i would support an interim order as i beleived that eventually he would return to his mum and ss are working towards that end, the relationship with the violent partner has ended and she is building her relationship with the child.
The family have refused to allow me any thing other than a few hours on a saturday and would refuse that if ss had not cohersed them into it.
My own situation has also changed , i am now working, I have a new partner and we are having a child of our own, we have a family home and i am considering changing my application to one for residency.
The only reason i never went for residency when the child was removed by ss was because i had no where for him to live.
I forgot to add, mediation was arranged but my ex failed to attend and would not engage witht he service
I am representing myself as i cant afford a solicitor, Do you think i have any chance of getting a residency order in my favour
Hi
It's difficult to say, but I would suggest that you have a word with SS and see if they would support such an application - if you can get them on your side, it's a possibility. However, the fact that he has been living with his grandfather for such a time will make it more difficult, at the moment he is in a stable environment, in a house which is pretty much all he has known, so there will be difficulties, to say the least.
I'd have a look at the top of the legal eagle section - there are some sticky posts there with advice and videos on representing yourself in court, certainly worth reading/watching to give you an idea of the process.
thank you , i will read through them now things have changed today , ss have had information that the grandfather has been leaving my child with mother and ss made it a condition that she was never left on her own with him. evidence has also been handed in that he was violent to the daughter when she was a teenager. Ss are investigating and have said if the evidence holds up then their position may change. i have to wait for them to complete their investigations. application for my mckenzie friend went in today so fingers crossed that is allowed
Hi there,
If SS are still refusing unsupervised access to the mother and the grandfather now has issues regarding safeguarding issues you could be in a better position to,go for residency.
I agree with actd, contact SS and ask them if they would support your application for residency. If they don't know of your changed circumstances then bring them up to date and let them know that if after their investigation is completed there are safeguarding issues you are in a position to have him with you immediately.
I see no reason why your application for an MF should be denied, it is accepted practice for the court to agree to an LIP to have access to this type of support. Just make sure the MF you have chosen is reputable , there are some charlatans about
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