Cafcass analysis and recommendations (private law) report

[Chicotime]

For the second time tomorrow I am due in court along with my ex wife to try to resolve access to our 10 year old daughter.

To cut a long story short, my wife and I seperated about 18 months ago and I have basically been denied access by my ex wife to my daughter.

My wife does occasionally encourage access with my daughter but only at times to suit her. Namely Christmas and Birthday times (wonder what the reason is for that).

The last time we attended court the judge said that no decision would be made until a wishes and feelings report had been carried out by a Cafcass officer.

I received the report this morning, being entitled "analysis and recommendations (private law). The report was apparently carried out at my daughters school some weeks ago.

To say I am not happy with the report is an understatment. It is filled with comments like "mum says dad has threatened to take me away" "mum says dad has hit her" "mum says dads brother has made nasty gestures to her"

To me it just appears that the whole report is more a wishes and feelings report of what my wife wants and not what my child wants. It concludes to say that supervised access should be a first point of contact between father and daughter.

What is so annoying is that I have not been interviewed at all by a cafcass officer so they are not to know things such as only three weeks ago my wife allowed me to have access to not only my daughter but also two of her friends daughters whilst they went to the pub.

Reading on the internet I cannot help but feel that the cafcass process has not been completed as it should have been.

I am reading that not only should the cafcass officer interview my daughter, they should also be interviewing myself and my wife. Am I correct in thinking this ?

I feel it's all too late now with the court date tomorrow to do anything about all of this.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

[BellaLEL]

Hi I'm a mum going through a similar process with CAFCASS involved. Going by the title of the report it's just an assessment to see what your daughter's wishes and feelings are towards the situation. After doing my research on CAFCASS they do like to stress that they are 'impartial', 'unbiased' and do not take sides. Also they say that in every case the child comes first, hence the reason for your daughters opinion to be heard first. What may happen is that the court will read the report and decide what the next step is. They'll ultimately ask the officer to write a new report to see what you and your ex have to say about the matter, what your wishes are etc. My officer didn't interview my daughter because she's too young. Your daughter isn't old enough to make decisions but is old enough to understand the situation and give her opinion. It's not too late as this is the early stage of the process and the court will not make a judgement tomorrow and close the case going by that report, unless there's more to the story. If you don't have a solicitor, get one, especially if you haven't a clue about family law as it can be quite complex. Or if you're confident you'll get your own way, do your research. Hope this helps and good luck for tomorrow :)

[EllenandBump]

How did it go at court? I hope you are getting access to your daughter now. Children need both parents and the courts do try to make sure that this happens. x

[mumblechum1]

tbh, the fact that the child is parrotting what the mum has told her is only going to go in your favour.

The mother should not be saying stuff like that.