Desperate for help - child rights.

silkyuk9

Voyager2002 wrote: »

It is disturbing that she has not responded to communication from a solicitor, nor from other family members. Does your son have any reason to believe that his ex is depressed or otherwise unable to cope? In his situation I think I would contact social services in the district where his child lives and ask them to make contact and ensure that all is well: depending on their response he could decide on his next move.

Was your son married to his ex, or at least named on the child's birth certificate? This is what determines whether he has 'parental responsibility', which makes a big difference to the legal situation.

I do suggest that your son sign on for Benefit, and once he starts work see if he can get any means-tested benefits. Receiving one of these benefits probably give him exemption from court fees, and might make legal aid available IF the report from social services indicates that this is a question of child welfare rather than simply contact.

birth certificate yes, married no. Also she isnt depressed.

KxMx

I can only echo the advice of other posters, support your son but don't get involved.
I only wish my paternal grandmother did not egg on my father to bring a charge of kidnap against my mother when she knew that was false. Not only did she know it was false she had indicated support to my mother if she left my father.
It turned into a very traumatic situation with long lasting consequences and it did nothing to endear my grandmother to me or to my mother although my mother always encouraged contact.
Situations such as this are never easy for any body involved and I wish you all the best of luck

silkyuk9

KxMx wrote: »

I can only echo the advice of other posters, support your son but don't get involved.
I only wish my paternal grandmother did not egg on my father to bring a charge of kidnap against my mother when she knew that was false. Not only did she know it was false she had indicated support to my mother if she left my father.
It turned into a very traumatic situation with long lasting consequences and it did nothing to endear my grandmother to me or to my mother although my mother always encouraged contact.
Situations such as this are never easy for any body involved and I wish you all the best of luck

I am not really involved as she does not communicate with me, however my wife sends a email every night asking how the child is but gets no reply. all communication is lost. We are doing everything by the book, letting the solicitor deal with it but its a slow process and thats whats hurting.

Voyager2002

FBaby wrote: »

I would be very careful about contacting social services at this stage as this could just make her even more determined to cut contact as she will inevitably take it as an act of revenge. At least he could warn her via solicitors that this is what he intends on doing if he doesn't hear back from her directly our via solicitors.

Nothing inevitable, and she has already cut contact.

I do agree that a letter to her solicitor (if she has one), stating that since she has not replied to any attempts to seek mediation or arrange contact he is concerned about the child's well-being and so intends to seek assistance from social services, would be a good idea.

marywooyeah

CHRISSYG wrote: »

Although ive no experience i would imagine he would be able to get legal aid.

If you dont have any experience in matters you shouldnt give out advice in them, especially when your advice is blatantly wrong!

Unless the son can satisfy the domestic abuse exemption or the social services involvement, neither satisfied on the ops post, he'll need to pay privately or represent himself.

Op when you say "rights", there is no right to contact in law. The courts look at matters from the viewpoint of the child, eg whether it would be in the child's best interests to have contact with your son.

The good news is legal aid is available for mediation so if she agrees he could save a bit of money. However, if she is far away she'll want mediation at a venue near her, if she even responds at all. Most likely she'll just ignore the referral and your son will then need to issue an application for a defined contact order. The application will need to be issued at the county court which is local to the child, which may require an agent solicitor depending on the distance, obviously this will incur more costs.

paddedjohn

Why doesn't he go and see her in person? If I was in his position a train journey wouldn't stop me.

Gillyx

Realistically she can ignore any letters from you, ignore letters from solicitors, can basically do as she pleases, and you could be tens of thousands of pounds down for legal help.

Does she have any family who would be prepared to talk to your son? I'd hope there would be someone in her family who would see how damaging taking a child away from his father could be.

I really would urge your son to try to get in contact with anyone who can get in contact with the mother.

When the relationship broke down was it mutual, your sons choice, her choice? Is she punishing your son because she didn't want to break up?

Poppie68

I find this thread very interesting as i have been following the op's other thread regarding a 'gaurantor contract' he signed for the house his son and the ex were living in. The ex is still living in the property and the op is trying to get out of his contract, maybe this has some bearing on the issue in this thread. I'm sure the ex who works fulltime, looks after a 16month old and has the added burden of maybe losing her home has a lot on her plate right now and feels she needs time to adjust and sort her life out.

NotSuchASmugMarriedNow

Your son needs to push for access for the courts. Legal aid has been abolished so he either needs to pay a lawyer or take it on himself to submit the necessary paperwork.

Families need Fathers have a political agenda and should be avoided at all costs. That's not to say families don't need fathers, just that that organisation is not reputable, that's all.

Gigglepig

silkyuk9 wrote: »

I am not really involved as she does not communicate with me, however my wife sends a email every night asking how the child is but gets no reply.

An email from the mother in law every night? I would be concerned that it might come across as quite pushy and from the point of view of the daughter in law, almost like harassment? I very much understand that you are concerned and that these emails are sent with the best of intentions, but if you are too pushy it might alienate the daughter in law so perhaps it is wise to back off a little. An email a week maybe, but one a day seems a bit much.