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Cafcass Report

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buffymad | 18:21 Tue 21st Jun 2016 | Law
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Are Cafcass meant to let you see a copy of their Section 7 report before the next hearing (which is a dispute resolution appointment)? It's happening shortly and nothing has been received.

Mind you, Cafcass officer said he'll be saying no contact due to horrible allegations my boyfriend's ex has made so not sure he really wants to read what's in it!!
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As I told you back , on I think 24th March ?, your boyfriend WILL get contact with his child no matter what Cafcass say!
This contact will be 'supervised' contact in a 'child center /contact center' at first, due to the Cafcass report.
As I said then, Cafcass are NOT stupid! they are very well aware that unfounded allegations are made in situations like this. But as the allegations have been made they have to be taken into account. So supervised contact at a child center or contact center will be ordered.
During these contacts the interaction between parent and child will be monitored by social workers at the center. Once the social workers at the center are satisfied that your BF is not a threat to his child, short unsupervised visits will be permitted. From then on progress can be made, to longer visits and overnight stays. Of course the Mum can and from what you say, probably will try to object. But 'Fathers Rights' are VERY strong on the family court agenda now and as long as your BF keeps a stable 'fatherly' relationship with his daughter the court will be on his side.
As I said before, I have personal experience of a situation like this with my granddaughter and her Dad.
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Ah but the Cafcass officer has actually said he's gonna recommend no contact in his report, all due to the allegations made by his ex and how far she's taken them. I had great hope reading what everyone said, but literally not one thing has gone how people have said! Just wondered whether he was meant to see the Cafcass report before the 2nd hearing - as he hasn't received anything.
Hi Buffymad - When my son first went to court cafcass recommended no contact because of the allegations. Until its proved either way they have to err on the side of caution. After the first few hearings a contact order was made because there were no real facts to back it up. This let to a further (nasty) allegation made to cafcass which then led to the contact being cancelled again.
I think you can see the pattern. The problem was the mother insisted that the child was in danger and refused co-operation at every step.
The court comment was made that none of the allegations were enough to stop the father seeing the child. We are talking rape and child sexual abuse among the allegations here.
Eventually supervised contact was ordered and now contact is twice a week and totalling about 10 hours unsupervised. There is an order for an overnight stay soon as well.
Cafcass just have to be sure.
My sons case is still ongoing but the judgment has shown her to be a liar - still hasnt stopped the games though so you should be prepared for that.
In answer to your question - They may or may not let you see it before the hearing but both sides will have an opportunity to respond to it and plenty of time will be given for you to do this and attach any evidence either party has.
Have you had a scott schedule? This is just the courts way of clearly stating the allegations and responses with separate documents backing up the details to help with any decisions.
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No schott schedule.

Snap with the rape allegations (but she's now actually reported it to the police - although he wasn't arrested).

Daft thing is, she did say at the first hearing she had no worries back in the day about him seeing their daughter and she agreed (when they questioned her) that she didn't have any worries now. So why have Cafcass suddenly decided there is something to worry about? She's obviously changed her story yet again but how's that fair? Can they not say oh but you said that previously so why are you changing your story?!!

Absolutely awful that people will stop at nothing to get their own way (she's already said she wants no contact) but then you obviously know that only too well Quoi!
The scott schedule will come as a result of the investigations and it will form the basis of a 'finding of fact' hearing when everybody has had their say. This is the point when a judgement can be made.
In our case, originally, they said that no fact finding was necessary but she insisted that she needed it to happen to allow contact. ironically she tried to stop the fact finding when it was just about to happen.
The scott schedule was interesting because it usually comprises of HER accusations against YOU. In our case we were allowed to put ina scott schedule of our own AGAINST her because of the mental damage she was doing by not co-operating. This is when the tables turned in our favour.
The important thing for you is evidence. If something didnt happen then there can be no evidence but...... read up a bit about child disclosures because this is what she did - she prompted the child to 'disclose' things and this gets credibility especially if it is to a teacher etc.
We had one particular accusation that I cant go into but was preposterous because of the timescale but the child disclosed references to it PROVING he was coerced
The time this takes and the mental strain is agonising but I hope you keep going and stop this woman.
The timing of reporting incidents is the real evidence - the court will question the motive of why the rape has been reported now as opposed to when it happened etc etc same with social services records - cafcass and social services have access to EVERYTHING and build there case on evidence.
In my case she was quite devious and calculated by going to lots of agencies but it was all AFTER my son had started his court case. She thought she could cry and play the wronged woman and it didnt work.
I am slowly building up a relation ship with my grandson now(got 10 mins yesterday) and it is worth every second of the pain.
.
Good luck with yours it will be worth it.
Question Author
Well it was adjourned until the police have concluded their investigations. If it all gets quashed, then he needs to phone the court to get it started up again. They said they may decide to go down the fact finding route but then again they may not.

Plus points were that indirect contact continues. She tripped herself up a few times but the judge was having none of it, hurrah! Nice to see someone finally talking sense!! So funny though, she was complaining that he was saying the things he'd been up to in the letters sent! Ermm, isn't that what you do in letters? She also said he wasn't asking any questions. Is she mad? All anyone has to do is look at the letters and they'll see all the questions he's asked and how very nice and normal all the content is!!!

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