Cafcass Positive Co-parenting Programme?

[bakedapple]

I'm asking the court for 50:50. Its been a protracted journey of negotiation, mediation and now court over 4 years. I've my final hearing coming up in a few weeks; its already been delayed once for 4 months to allow for a last minute S7 wishes and feelings report - no concerns on either parent and the children's wishes and feelings came out aligned with a far fairer split of time than current.

A potential recommendation is going to be no change for now (despite the wishes and feelings being of such paramount that the final hearing needed to be delayed by 4 months) and we go with the Cafcass Positive Co-parenting Programme. Does anyone have any experience of this programme?

I have two concerns:
1) if this becomes the recommendation, it just pushes any decision back further and enables avoidance of any decision. We're a long way down the road already; after nearly a year of trying mediation with no progress, can I really expect this to make any difference?
2) my ex will engage fully in the programme, be a model pupil and get full marks, but revert back to type as soon as it finishes.

 

[MagicJ]

The programme has been developed and is run by Action for Children on behalf of cafcass.

It has been usual for all parties in Family Court to be put on the programme as par for the course, so I'd be surprised if court delay a final outcome just for this.

The programme consists of an interactive e-learning module and then a zoom group session. Each parent is on an independent group and you will not see the ex. The group session judges how well you understood the course in the context of real situations as each parent on their- mixed Mums & Dad's - have different situations and it's a bit like group therapy.

You have to dedicate time in a quiet place, undisturbed. The session is about 3hours and has a 15m break in the middle.

You get a cert issued at the end to say you attended, make sure they email it to you.

I can't see how that is going to change the circumstances on the ground though!

 

[bakedapple]

@MagicJ - what you've described I believe is the Planning Together for Children programme.
This one is a bit more involved - Positive Co-parenting Programme

The Cafcass Positive co-Parenting Programme consists of four structured sessions, over approximately a 12week period. As a parent, you will most likely take part in two of these sessions. At the start of the programme, the Cafcass Officer will conduct a one-to-one session with each parent. This is to:
* better understand what issues stand in the way of a resolution;
* build a picture of how each parent views their current situation;
* get a greater understanding of the network of relationships between involved parties, and the child; and,
* help the Cafcass Officer think about what will work

These meetings will usually take around an hour and a half, so that the Cafcass Officer can really start to unpick what you hope to gain from these court proceedings, and what you see as the best arrangement for your child.

The third CPPP session will be a meeting between the Cafcass Officer and the child, or children (depending on the child’s age), involved in the court proceedings. Cafcass, as an organisation, is committed to ensuring that the voice of the child is listened to, and accurately represented to court. This session with the child will seek to:
* hear from the child’s perspective what they see as the best outcome from proceedings; and
* clarify their wishes and feelings.

The Cafcass Officer may encourage them to prepare a letter or drawing that they would like to share with their parents during the final CPPP session.

The final CPPP session is a joint meeting between both parents, that the Cafcass Officer will oversee and run. The session may take an hour and a half, this all depends on how you’re feeling and how constructive the meeting proves to be. The joint meeting serves as an opportunity for both parents to discuss what they see as the best way forward for their child, and better understand each other. The Cafcass Officer, after speaking with all involved parties, will provide a short report to court. Importantly, this is an opportunity for the Cafcass Officer to present the information from their meeting with the child, from a neutral point of view. The child’s letter will be shared, and when appropriate, parents will be asked to write a joint letter back. This joint letter can be used to express both parents’ love for their child, what they’d like the future to look like, or maybe some promises that can be agreed upon.

After the final meeting with both parents, the Cafcass Officer will record any arrangements that have been agreed prior to the next hearing. The FCA will report the outcome of the sessions to court in a short Cafcass Positive Co-Parenting Programme report for the Judge to consider next steps.

 

[MagicJ]

My apologies @bakedapple , you are correct, thank you for point that out!

 

[Ash]

Ok - you have an application in for 50/50 and a final hearing coming up. This presumably is an increase in time from an existing order? You say wishes and feelings from S7 came out better than the existing arrangement, but then say a potential recommendation might be xyz. So have you seen the S7 report yet? It suggests you have but I'm confused when you talk about a potential recommendation where it sounds like you haven't seen the S7 yet.

Regardless of any of that, you will have chance to cross examine Cafcass at the final hearing, if you're not happy with their report. I don't see why you shouldn't have 50/50 and still do the course Cafcass are recommending. The final hearing, however, will give you chance to show what your ex has been like, via evidence. It is difficult when ex's do that - mine was the same - constant evil rottweiler behaviour but butter wouldn't melt in her mouth during court proceedings etc. She would say whatever, and then go away and revert to her behaviour.

So the thing to remember is that, in some ways, this is a game. You know she is going to do that. You can't tell the court she is going to do that without sounding hostile (possibly). So you just have to be smart with your final statement and final hearing. And get the best possible order you can.

I think it sounds like you might not get the 50/50 but you could still get "lives with both parents" shared care, even if not quite 50/50.

Have you submitted witness statements/final statements yet? And are you being represented at the final hearing?

 

[bakedapple]

This presumably is an increase in time from an existing order?

No order currently in place - just an unsatisfactory de facto arrangement. But, yes, it would be an increase.

You say wishes and feelings from S7 came out better than the existing arrangement, but then say a potential recommendation might be xyz.

Yes - recommendation might be to kick the can down the road while we do the course, whereas I'm told the wishes and feelings in the S7 are for increased time with Dad. By creating more hoops to jump through and more delays creates a risk that this then becomes a journey of having to convince every judge and social worker in the county that I'm a good dad, one at a time - by which time, the kids have left home and have kids of their own.

So have you seen the S7 report yet? It suggests you have but I'm confused when you talk about a potential recommendation where it sounds like you haven't seen the S7 yet.

We've all met with Cafcass over the past few weeks; parents first then children, with follow-on phone calls to tidy up any loose ends that might emerge. This came out of the follow-on phone call as a potential recommendation - I'm not familiar with this course, hence trying to work out how it fits in and whether it will help or hinder at this late stage of the journey.