Urgent advice needed on defending a contact order

brownedoff_2

Hi,
I’m really hoping someone can guide me in the right direction with this. I’ll try and keep it brief.
My daughter was in a violent relationship for 3 years. 3 weeks after it ended she discovered she was pregnant. Baby was born in March this year.
The father is not on the birth certificate so has no parental rights, but he is asking for contact. She has received an order from the local court to appear on 28th of November.
The father has never offered any financial help. He has a history of violence, weapons, drugs etc. you name is he’s done it. He has been threatening. (I have emails and text messages to prove this). We had to involve the police when baby was born as he threatened to snatch her.
She is now in a secure relationship with a lovely guy, but doesn’t qualify for legal help as their income is above the threshold. However they are struggling financially and can’t afford a solicitor. Unfortunately neither can the rest of the family.
We’ve been to the CAB and they say her only option is to represent herself. We have no knowledge about legal things and really don’t know where to turn. She is terrified of having to face him and the consequences of what might happen.
Really what I’m after is a step by step guide as to what to do. We wrote a letter to the court saying she didn’t wish to appear due to his violence. They have replied saying she has no choice and has to be there.
Naturally we appreciate that for the baby’s sake she should know about her biological father and are prepared that at some point contact will probably happen.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

Vomityspice

Do you know if the 'violent ex' is legally represented?

As the biological father was unmarried and is not on the birth cert, he is likely to be making a section 4, application and not just a Contact Order (Section 8)??? Look at the paperwork.

(1) Section 4 of the 1989 ChildrenAct (acquisition of responsibility by a father of a child who is not married to the child’s mother) as amended as follows.

(2) In subsection (1) (cases where parental responsibility is acquired), for the words after ‘birth’ there is substituted ‘the father shall acquire parental responsibility for a child if (a) he becomes registered as the child’s father under an enactment specified in subsection (1A); (b) he and the child’s mother make an agreement )a ‘parental responsibility agreement’) providing for him to have parental responsibility for the child; or (c) the court, on his application, orders that he shall have parental responsibility for the child.

When considering s 4 applications, Re H (Minors)(Local Authority: Parental Responsibility) (No.3) states that three factors need to be considered;

1)The degree of commitment shown by the father towards the child.
2)The degree of attachment which exist between them.
3)The reasons why the father is making the application.

When a court looks at these issues, they do so with reference to s 1(1) of the Children Act in which it is;

‘The welfare of the child is to be the paramount consideration’.

in Re S (A Minor) (Parental Responsibility) the very fact of making an application was seen as evidence of applicants commitment!!
However, there is case law Re J (Parental Responsibility) where a parental responsibility order has been refused as the child did not know her father (something you should argue).

Weighing up all there factors, it is relevant to look at what actually happens in practise. Whilst there is no automatic presumption that a parental responsibility order will be granted, which is evidenced by Re H (Parental Responsibility). Statistics show that 90% of applications succeed with only 6% being turned down. In addition, the granting of an order to should not impinge on your daughter's day to day care of the child This was evidenced in Re P (A Minor) (Parental Responsibility Order) where it was held;

‘An order for parental responsibility to the father did not give him a right to interfere in matters within the day-to-day management of the child's life or to override the decision of the mother’

Further, in Re C and V (Minors) (Parental Responsibility and Contact), Ward LJ, commented;

‘that wherever possible the law should confer parental responsibility on the absent parent’

In case Re H (A Minor) (Parental Responsibility: Blood Tests), the mother’s husband threatened to leave if an order was made. In that case, parental responsibility was granted but contact was terminated. Depending on what your hoping to achieve, it may be possible for parental responsibility to be granted but contact be refused.

Given that 90% of application are successful, you might be better off arguing for 'supervised contact' at a local contact center. That way, if he turns out to be unreliable you could then apply for a non-contact order.


Why is the ex making an application now? Has anything happened?

brownedoff_2

Wow thanks for that! A lot to take in.. I’ll try and take it point by point.

Yes he is legally represented. He has legal aid. It’s my belief (although I can’t prove it) that he deliberately put himself out of work to qualify.

As the biological father was unmarried and is not on the birth cert, he is likely to be making a section 4, application and not just a Contact Order (Section 8)??? Look at the paperwork.

He has not asked for parental rights, only for contact.

1) The degree of commitment shown by the father towards the child

He asked for details of her birth and a photo. We didn’t comply as we were advised by the police not to have any contact with him due to his nature.

He sent an outfit and a toy a couple of weeks ago. (Bearing in mind baby is now 8 months old). There has never been any offer of financial help, which I assume would be construed as commitment?

2) The degree of attachment which exist between them.

There is no attachment other than a biological one.

3) The reasons why the father is making the application.

He says he wants contact. That’s all we know.

However, there is case law Re J (Parental Responsibility) where a parental responsibility order has been refused as the child did not know her father (something you should argue).

She’s 8 months old. She has no idea who he is.


I can’t think of any reason for him to be making the application now.

We accept that contact will possibly be granted. What we need to know is the protocol of these things. Are there certain criteria that need to be followed to represent yourself in court? Or do we just turn up, state our case and hope for the best? I’ve never even been inside a court and have no idea how these things work.

mrs_pogel

I am not very knowledgable in these matters but I would be surprised if you could not get any financial assistance, find a good family law solicitor and at least get a second opinion.

You could seek advice from the child welfare or social work department, they may have some advice. The courts may well ask for a social work report to be done in cases involving violence and abuse and will take into consideration what they have to say. In my own experience they recomended the father had limited supervised access, which wasn't what he wanted so he never bothered to see through.

brownedoff_2

The only thing taken into account when applying for legal help is rent/morgage payments. It excludes everything else including council tax, utilities, food, clothing etc.
Believe me we've tried every avenue available to get help. We saw a solicitor at the CAB, is was she who advised my daughter to represent herself.
We asked her if she could give us an idea of the costs of hiring a solicitor. Her answer was "How long is a piece of string?" she said it could go on for years!

I will look into the child welfare thing and see if they can come up with any advice though. Thanks for that.

To be honest i've a feeling he is only doing this to get at my daughter through the baby. What is worrying me though, is that he has started being nice.. up until we recieved the court order all we got was verbal abuse, but his whole attitude has now changed. I would imagine thats on the advice of his solicitor.
Its a shame it has had to come to this. If his attitude had been different from the start, we would have agreed for contact. But as he was so threatening, for the baby's safety and on the advice from the police, we have had to ignore him completely. He is not a person to be reasoned with.

elona

Is here any chance you could claim for some legal expenses on your house insurance?

Direct Line used to offer this but not sure if other companies do.

Loretta

I am not at all sure about this but can't the baby have a solicitor acting for herself? as the baby has no income I think there is some provision for funding, I can't remember this but something is ringing a bell

Krystaltips

Halifax offer legal help to 'defend your rights' too.

brownedoff_2

Loretta wrote: »

I am not at all sure about this but can't the baby have a solicitor acting for herself? as the baby has no income I think there is some provision for funding, I can't remember this but something is ringing a bell

We had thought of this too, but as the court order is specifically addressed to my daughter and not the baby, its not possible.

They dont have house insurance.. funds are so tight they cant even afford that.

I'll have a look at the Halifax and see what they offer.

Apparently the letter from the judge says that my daughter can attend without having to see her ex. and will be able to talk to the CAFCASS person in private. So i'm thinking we'll go there armed with all the information we already have and see what happens.

Thanks for all your input.. I'll keep you all posted.

rosie-lee

Wishing you the best of luck.

Sharlee

I understand this is a worrying time for you but all the court will try and do is establish if contact is in the best interests for the child.

I am not an expert on child contact but I know that courts do believe that children do best when they have contact with both their biological parents so it is a possibility that supervised contact may be granted. However, when there is a history of severe violence then it is less likely to be ordered by the court, but this is all dependent on individual circumstances. Although I believe that the statistic is that only 1% of applications are refused by the court

CAFCASS officers are the 'eyes and ears' of the court so be sure to get on with them, they are looking for concern for the child rather than point-scoring against an ex-partner. Some are better than others at recognising deviousness and manipulation!

You should get in touch with your local domestic violence service and ask if there is anyone available that has experience of child contact issues who at least can provide some support, advice or advocacy and also you can contact 'Rights of Women' who give free legal advice to women via their helpline. Also have a look at the 'Women's Aid' website which also gives information regarding child contact. I think that if there are allegations of domestic violence then a fact-finding hearing must take place before any decisions are made regarding contact. But Rights of Women can advise you on this.

The best of luck and please let us know how you get on.

Regards
Sharlee