Going to court for access, how does it work?

Dontknowanymore

Hi
My boys dad has to apply to the court for contact, there has been SS involvement due to DV and it's them who say he has to apply for contact aswell as have meetings with them for the next few weeks so they can do an assessment.

Now I know that the courts wiill request a report from them, but what I really want to know is how long does the actual court process take? and what does it involve?
Once he has applied or whatever he has to do, what happens then? will I be contacted with a date?

I'm hoping SS will be doing a report after they have met with him the next few weeks ahead of any court date tbh, it's been a year since there has been no contact now.

I wont be contesting contact, so that wont be an issue, will I need a solicitor if I'm just basically going to agree?
Do the court decide how contact is made? ie insist it is supervised at first etc.

It's been a long tough year and this is just the last hurdle in a massive long run that I just want to get over and get out the way...

Dontknowanymore

Shameless bump...

pupsicola

As Social Services have been involved and are the ones telling him he has to apply for access through the courts, I would think they would do the assessments prior to any court date.

The courts would want details of these assessments so as to decide what is best in the interest of the boys. It may be that they arrange supervised access for a while. My ex and I split due to dv and he could only see the boys at our local church. An organisation ran it and I dropped them off and collected them and didn't have to see him at all.

As you are not contesting contact and are most likely in contact with Social Services regarding this I dont think you need get a solicitor. The court would confirm in writing to Social Services what their decision is regarding contact and this would go on the childrens file and be monitored.

Dontknowanymore

pupsicola wrote: »

As Social Services have been involved and are the ones telling him he has to apply for access through the courts, I would think they would do the assessments prior to any court date.

The courts would want details of these assessments so as to decide what is best in the interest of the boys. It may be that they arrange supervised access for a while. My ex and I split due to dv and he could only see the boys at our local church. An organisation ran it and I dropped them off and collected them and didn't have to see him at all.

As you are not contesting contact and are most likely in contact with Social Services regarding this I dont think you need get a solicitor. The court would confirm in writing to Social Services what their decision is regarding contact and this would go on the childrens file and be monitored.

Thanks for that, well since day 1 it was always said that contact could go via my mum and his mum if need be.
Do you know if we would have to attend court numerous times?

pupsicola

As you are not contesting him having contact I wouldn't think you would need to attend court often. Unless the judge wants your point of view. Social Services would have to attend obviously so they could speak on your behalf. I dont know how long this process takes as in my case it didn't go through the courts. I hope it all goes smotthly for you. See it as however long it takes, at the end of the day cotact wont start till it is decided it is in the boys interests. Depending on the boys ages the court might take into account how they feel about all this too. Social Services would be able to advise you best on this. Good luck

puddy

please dont worry about this process, but you're right there will be a need for some interaction with SS and the court, hopefully it should not be too intrusive.

the courts will be asking SS for either a section 7 or section 37 report, which is an 'investigation into the child's welfare'. ss have to talk to the court about what they feel the risks and welfare issues are with regard to the care of the children and contact with their father.
when they talk about care of the children, you are not being 'investigated' but they have to describe to the court the method, function, routine etc of the child's care. this enables the court to understand the child's needs and whether they are being met and what impact contact issues may have on this.

much of this will have already been done during SS previous work with the children and will be utilised in a report to court. they will also no doubt (should do anyway) see the children to get their 'wishes and feelings' if they do not already have recent evidence of this.

they may wish to observe contact and use this information to inform the court.

court will be very happy to have a solution already in place (contact supervised by grandparents) IF social services deem it safe enough for the children, ie, they may want to know if grandparents can keep the children safe, are they likely to collude with your ex and let him smooth talk them into releasing the children into his care for the afternoon etc etc

as to how many times you need to attend court, difficult to say. as others have said, you are not contesting and any information about your own observations, concerns, etc should be communicated to the social worker. you will be told if you need to attend, dont be frightened to express to the court that you are worried about the process, they should reassure you. courts are more informal than they used to be, you wont be standing in a dock or anything.

good luck

puddy

sorry, just read your post again properly, SS have not seen the children for at least a year? if so, then yes, they will come and see them (should do, its good practice) and if contact is put in place for an interim period, they may want to observe that, then speak to the children again after a few contacts to see how they feel its going (if they are very young ie toddlers, then they just observe)

no you dont need a solicitor, you can represent yourself

in terms of timescale, very difficult to say as courts are closing left, right and centre and therefore v busy, so may need to wait for hearing dates and thats without possible delays by social services. your SW may have a heavy caseload, be off sick, be on leave etc etc. however, whatever happens, please be assured that they will have the children's best interests at heart, it may seem like some old nuisance and beaurecratic nightmare at times but it really is for the kids

Dontknowanymore

puddy wrote: »

please dont worry about this process, but you're right there will be a need for some interaction with SS and the court, hopefully it should not be too intrusive.

the courts will be asking SS for either a section 7 or section 37 report, which is an 'investigation into the child's welfare'. ss have to talk to the court about what they feel the risks and welfare issues are with regard to the care of the children and contact with their father.
when they talk about care of the children, you are not being 'investigated' but they have to describe to the court the method, function, routine etc of the child's care. this enables the court to understand the child's needs and whether they are being met and what impact contact issues may have on this.

much of this will have already been done during SS previous work with the children and will be utilised in a report to court. they will also no doubt (should do anyway) see the children to get their 'wishes and feelings' if they do not already have recent evidence of this.

they may wish to observe contact and use this information to inform the court.

court will be very happy to have a solution already in place (contact supervised by grandparents) IF social services deem it safe enough for the children, ie, they may want to know if grandparents can keep the children safe, are they likely to collude with your ex and let him smooth talk them into releasing the children into his care for the afternoon etc etc

as to how many times you need to attend court, difficult to say. as others have said, you are not contesting and any information about your own observations, concerns, etc should be communicated to the social worker. you will be told if you need to attend, dont be frightened to express to the court that you are worried about the process, they should reassure you. courts are more informal than they used to be, you wont be standing in a dock or anything.

good luck

Thanks for your reply.
My support worker has already told me that when contact goes ahead they will not arrange or supervise it so I have to arrange it and it could mean starting off at my mums or similar.

I had to attend court alot last year so am not worried about the process, just keen to get it all sorted out and resolved.

Dontknowanymore

puddy wrote: »

sorry, just read your post again properly, SS have not seen the children for at least a year? if so, then yes, they will come and see them (should do, its good practice) and if contact is put in place for an interim period, they may want to observe that, then speak to the children again after a few contacts to see how they feel its going (if they are very young ie toddlers, then they just observe)

no you dont need a solicitor, you can represent yourself

in terms of timescale, very difficult to say as courts are closing left, right and centre and therefore v busy, so may need to wait for hearing dates and thats without possible delays by social services. your SW may have a heavy caseload, be off sick, be on leave etc etc. however, whatever happens, please be assured that they will have the children's best interests at heart, it may seem like some old nuisance and beaurecratic nightmare at times but it really is for the kids

Hi no they see us every 6 weeks, they are classed as children in need, so basically just there in the background for support if we need it.

puddy

god, im so sorry, i really need to read things properly (typical SW:D)

with regard to when they interview him, no it wont be before a court date, they wont do anything without being instructed as this is not their application, it will be his. they will have advised him to apply because in their opinion this is something that needs a decision by court because of the historical DV but this a private proceeding, not public (like when children are taken into care) and so unless they are asked to do so by the courts, they have no authority or jurisdiction to assess.

without knowing all the ins and outs, it could even be a case whereby the court deem this to be work for CAFCASS because SS are no longer involved in the case. that wont make any difference, CAFCASS will do the same type of investigation and assessment. They should get information from SS to aid their report. there is a very loose rule that if there have been or are CP concerns, the work should be done by SS but if not, then its for CAFCASS but with each organisation lacking resources there is sometimes an argument between them as to whose responsibility it is. however, a court instruction is a court instruction and whoever is told to do it, will need to do it.

puddy

Dontknowanymore wrote: »

Hi no they see us every 6 weeks, they are classed as children in need, so basically just there in the background for support if we need it.

oh, well in that case they know the children very well already, if it was my case, i wouldnt do specific visits for the 'report' i would be simply utilising the information i had on top of any observations of the new contact as hopefully when they see the kids they will have talked about 'daddy' and how they feel