ongoing contact issues

[youngagain]

Just thought I would share our experiences with contact.As you may know we have a sgo and about tow years ago we stopped contact with the father as we had serious concerns over supervision that his mum provided.We ended up in court where the guardian was appointed again and she did an ok job really recommending reduced contact with close supervision and after observing contact and making it clear that close supervision was required.So the court order was formulated for once a month at the fathers house supervised by his mum.Then the grandfather of the child became involved on a very hostile basis being an ex solicitor and all hell has let loose.He has accused the guardian of misrepresentation,tried to have us locked up for contempt of court and now advises that he will be seeking to annul the sgo after a full three day gearing where he intends to try to prove us liars and all of that malarkey.The list goes on but I cant be bothered to write it all.Just a tale of what can happen if you are a special guardian with the childs best interests at heart, oh and we are up to 4k on legals with another 3k pending the final hearing.There is no price you can put on a childs welfare and happiness but when it starts to effect both your liberty and your solvency you have to question the system.Welcome to the mad house

[fatcat]

he sounds like a really nasty piece of work, and a bully. luckily you have the guardian on your side, and this man has right to ask for the SG to be resolved. he would have to get leave first, and given the fact that the court has been sympathetic to your case already, its unlikely that the application will even get to be made.

even if he does get to make the application the court is highly unlikely to make th order that he wants, because the 'No Order' principle means that an order can only be made if it IMPROVES the child's situation, other wise it must maintain the staus quo.

he's full of wind and bluster, and not much else.

[nanaJ]

Hello Youngagain - I take it he has not yet applied to the court. He will need the leave of the court first, as Fatcat quite rightly says.

You may also be aware that court rules have now changed. My understanding is that (in an effort to cut such hostile applications) that mediation is required. At any directions hearing a judge can also intervene and adjourn the hearing for mediation to take place before proceeding further.

Im not too sure how this will work in practice and perhaps someone else on the site may be able to let us all know.

Clearly it will not be quite as easy as he thinks, despite his legal background, to take control of matters. I cannot see him overturning a special guardianship order - after all, where has he been over the past few years? Why on earth would he want to upset the child's settled home? He does not seem to be putting the welfare of the child first, more his own needs.

Contact is supposed to be the right of the child - the child is not there to meet the recent needs of this grandparent.

[youngagain]

Thanks for the support,I know its all a threat really and my solicitor says the judge will probably jump on it and stop it all.
He is very hostile and really my best defense has been silence, preferring to let him rant and as the guardian put it, we are the ones with the power and we are expected to use our rights in protecting the child so every time we go against the order of the court,so long as we can demonstrate that we did it to protect the child s welfare, we are on good ground. The only gripe is that say contact is supposed to take place on Saturday and we decide to alter the supervision or something else in the order then there is no prospect of applying for a variation to the order through the courts.Very awkward situation to be put in. Thanks again we go back in May to court.Just had a lovely MSG my daughter in law to be want me to walk her down the isle.

[Cellbar]

Youngagain

I know what you mean - we have just been advised of

[fatcat]

it might be worth explaining your difficulties to the judge, and request that a s91(14) can be granted to ensure that any further mucking about by the parents has to go before the court before an application is even allowed.

[aimilgray]

hi and remember it is his son who the law is looking at very closely cant be easy for an ex solicitor that can it? i would treat him with the hot air it deserves and ignore him there is a reason why he is an ex solicitor too!!!

[youngagain]

Thanks yes I agree,he is obsessed with the fact that we have an SGO and protect his granddaughter from his son.Funny thing is neither he his son or his wife have ever offered any support to us, they seem to be more concerned with getting unsupervised contact at the expense of the child's emotional welfare.Tuesday we go to court and I hope the court sees our commitment to our granddaughter and her protection as a good thing.

[Kate]

Good luck tomorrow in court youngagain, let us know how it goes.

[youngagain]

Thanks, Today was a victory for common sense the order was as follows.
We supervise contact as the fathers mother has had her chance and been blown it.
The court recognized that the grandfather(retired criminal solicitor) had no business applying to annul the SGO and threaten us with criminal proceedings.The fathers barrister could not leave the court quick enough and explained that he was the third instructed to date.
The court looked upon the grandfathers involvement as a destructive and unnecessary malicious attempt that could only serve to undermine the welfare of the child and we had the full support of the guardian.The court has said that it will not accept further representations or applications from the grandfather and that the the father must communicate through solicitors.The court also stated that it would make an order in the future to stop his involvement upon any application for such order.The upshot is the risk to the child has been illuminated as the father is supervised by us with no real prospect of this changing as the grandmother has not supported us or recognized our concerns.Its a good day for us as the future is somewhat more secure for the child and we have full jurisdiction over who attends contact and the authority to stop contact.