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CAFCASS officer (phone call)

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bbl

Well-known member
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Hello all,

I received a phone from the CAFCASS officer today. Putting forward false allegations saying that my so has said I have asked him where she lives and driving around the local area which is completely untrue.

I explained to her I have got a camera on the car and also have the location on phone on at all times due to this and I do not know where she lives.

Can I ask any advise you could offer as this is constantly at every opportunity and I feel like I can't protect myself and worry it will impact my case.
 
I have had multiple allegations relating to things my child has supposedly said. For most of them there was a miniscule grain of truth which was blown up into something unrecognisable. The child says something totally innocent, the ex mangles it into something she can present as concerning. Can you think of anything innocent that could explain the allegation?

I have always responded to this stuff in a way that avoids branding the child as a liar and provides reassurance to my ex that she need not be concerned. As this is through Cafcass, you may not have opportunity to respond directly.

How old is your son? Have Cafcass spoken to him? Where are you in proceedings?

It may be that you can do nothing for now. If Cafcass are preparing a report or safeguarding letter, you can work out your move after you see what they write. I've had too many allegations to list. Ultimately, the only one that really impacted my case was the alcohol allegation. My personal experience is that a constant stream of allegations is in play to keep the barriers up and try to get a rise out of me. If these particular allegations become significant in what Cafcass provides to the court. You can submit evidence before the hearing which will show they are baseless. Disproving stuff in advance just leads to new allegations being rolled out.
 
Try not to worry. That is mild compared to some things. Wait and see what the report says.
 
Resolute said:
I have had multiple allegations relating to things my child has supposedly said. For most of them there was a miniscule grain of truth which was blown up into something unrecognisable. The child says something totally innocent, the ex mangles it into something she can present as concerning. Can you think of anything innocent that could explain the allegation?

I have always responded to this stuff in a way that avoids branding the child as a liar and provides reassurance to my ex that she need not be concerned. As this is through Cafcass, you may not have opportunity to respond directly.

How old is your son? Have Cafcass spoken to him? Where are you in proceedings?

It may be that you can do nothing for now. If Cafcass are preparing a report or safeguarding letter, you can work out your move after you see what they write. I've had too many allegations to list. Ultimately, the only one that really impacted my case was the alcohol allegation. My personal experience is that a constant stream of allegations is in play to keep the barriers up and try to get a rise out of me. If these particular allegations become significant in what Cafcass provides to the court. You can submit evidence before the hearing which will show they are baseless. Disproving stuff in advance just leads to new allegations being rolled out.
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Not really, I think it would something innocent tbh and blown out proportion, this is a re-occuring theme.

My son is 6, CAFCASS have spoken to him where he said he wants to spend more time with me.

The next is hearing the DRA, CAFCASS are writing a section 7 report.

I feel like even when the case is over she will continue to do this and I think my son's words are being twisted all the time.
 
Here is my take. Based largely on how my ex's barrister handled her case against me.

The allegations they spoke to you about may or may not feature in the report. If they do not, I'd be inclined to leave well enough alone. If they do, in the hearing you can deny ever having done as she alleged and offer to provide evidence if it would assist the court. You do not need to say what the evidence would be. This way the court will make a decision on whether or not it is important. If these allegations are gonna be decisive, they will invite evidence. If they are not gonna be a big factor, they'll just leave it aside.

I imagine you may have a non-mol or an undertaking from the fact you are not meant to know where your ex lives. I was dressed up as harassing my ex and breaching my undertaking left, right, and centre. I had it recently for walking along the road that our handover location is on. They accused me of breaching an undertaking that no longer exists! They will attempt to make it look like you are a threat in any way possible. Whatever you do, something will be thrown into the mix. Don't expect it to make sense and don't let it put you off track. This stuff is there as a diversion. It is not what your case is about. So, I suggest you do not get pulled into it unless the court deems it to have merit.

EDIT
Who knows, this might even fall in your favour. Perhaps Cafcass will see through your ex and report they are not concerned. Or even, that they are concerned your ex may be creating issues.
 
bbl said:
Not really, I think it would something innocent tbh and blown out proportion, this is a re-occuring theme.

My son is 6, CAFCASS have spoken to him where he said he wants to spend more time with me.

The next is hearing the DRA, CAFCASS are writing a section 7 report.

I feel like even when the case is over she will continue to do this and I think my son's words are being twisted all the time.
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Once the case is over she will probably stop doing so much because she didn't get anywhere. She may try the odd low key thing but there are ways of dealing with that and you can ignore most of it. The main thing is an order and seeing your son regularly. One step at a time. When you see what the S7 says you can do a position statement responding to it. I can't actually see Cafcass taking seriously a second hand account of something your 6 year old said to your ex either.
 
Resolute said:
Here is my take. Based largely on how my ex's barrister handled her case against me.

The allegations they spoke to you about may or may not feature in the report. If they do not, I'd be inclined to leave well enough alone. If they do, in the hearing you can deny ever having done as she alleged and offer to provide evidence if it would assist the court. You do not need to say what the evidence would be. This way the court will make a decision on whether or not it is important. If these allegations are gonna be decisive, they will invite evidence. If they are not gonna be a big factor, they'll just leave it aside.

I imagine you may have a non-mol or an undertaking from the fact you are not meant to know where your ex lives. I was dressed up as harassing my ex and breaching my undertaking left, right, and centre. I had it recently for walking along the road that our handover location is on. They accused me of breaching an undertaking that no longer exists! They will attempt to make it look like you are a threat in any way possible. Whatever you do, something will be thrown into the mix. Don't expect it to make sense and don't let it put you off track. This stuff is there as a diversion. It is not what your case is about. So, I suggest you do not get pulled into it unless the court deems it to have merit.

EDIT
Who knows, this might even fall in your favour. Perhaps Cafcass will see through your ex and report they are not concerned. Or even, that they are concerned your ex may be creating issues.
Click to expand...
 
Hello, yes I received an undertaking, where the allegations were false anyway. But hopefully as you said they will straight through them.
 
What is the likelihood of shared care being approved in your opinion as I was made aware that the court are less likely to grant it if there is parental conflict or is that based on if Is one parent not both?
 
It really depends on the circumstances. Every case is a bit different. Sometimes they order 50/50 because one parent is hostile or not following orders (which is why we say don’t say anything negative about the ex so it shows she is the hostile one and you are the reasonable, child focused one). But that can sometimes be later down the line if the ex has breached as well as being hostile.

For a first order it will be based on circumstances and to some degree, what Cafcass recommend. However you can get more than Cafcass recommend at a final hearing sometimes via arguments and persuasion.
 
My concern is my ex is trying to restrict access to weekends only with no over night stays in the week aswell

Shared care was in place before and my ex sent me a contract to confirm this. I have sent this over to the CAFCASS officer as requested
 
Try not to worry. Your ex probably will but it depends what the court decides.
 
How would you advise to safeguard myself as I am genuinely worried as she got me arrested previously through false allegations and wouldn't put it past her to do it again.
 
It's all very worrying isn't it. But no I would just sit tight and make sure any communications from you are polite, brief and civilised. Are you being harrassed by emails? If not then probably best not to go the harrassment warning route. It needs a formal warning before they do a harrassment order and it could make things worse.
 
Hello again,

Just to inform you that CAFCASS recommended shared care which was previously in place, which I am really happy about.

Can I ask,do you think I require my solicitor to come to the next hearing?
 
@bbl, general advice is that if you can manage the case management then a Solicitor isn't required.
That would be activities such as Bundle Preparation etc.

You can then save costs by hiring a Direct Access Barrister which is always useful, especially given the Cafcass recommendation, you would want to use that advantage & secure a finalised outcome, a Barrister will definitely help with this - what type is your next hearing?
 
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