Ex partner stopping me seeing my children, help please.

[Xr2222]

Hello.

I have been convicted of sexual offences online only. The investigation took over two years. My ex has told me a few days back that she no longer wants me to have any face to face meetings or even zoom calls to my kids anymore. I had been seeing them every month and having regular weekly calls to them and now everything has suddenly stopped.
Now my ex has had a disclosure about the nature of the offences, she's obviously been horrified and it's caused her to not trust that my kids are safe to ever be around me. Hence her decision.
My kids are 2 and 4.
I have been advised by probation and by children's services to seek legal advice and take this to the family court to try and gain access rights.
I intend to do this, and I know I'm going to be in for a battle with my ex which I didn't ever want to do. But what option do I have ? My hand has been forced in a way. I can't just accept that I'm never going to see my kids again.
Any help or advice would be welcome please. As my entire world is falling apart before me. And God knows how it will effect my kids to not see their dad.
Do I have any rights in this instance? Will the court grant supervised access?. Surely every dad has a right to see their children. My offences were non contact, and my SHPO does not prohibit me from any form of contact with children. It's all based around Internet use only. Yet when a referal went to children's services from probation saying I want to see my children, along with their risk assessment, I had a call from a social worker saying there is no chance they will facilitate me to see my children unless directed to do so by a judge. Or unless my ex was willing to supervise the contact herself, which she isn't.
Yet like I say, my ex isn't even going down the court route. She's told the social worker the children are safe with her as she isn't willing to supervise contact, or even wanting to me to see my children. and so the case is closed and children services are not currently involved. What on earth can I do from here?

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear Xr2222,

Thank you for your post and welcome to the parents' board.

You say you have been convicted of sexual offences online. You ex-partner has now told you that she no longer wants you to have contact with your children, aged 2 and 4, anymore. You had been seeing them every month and having weekly calls but this has now stopped. Your ex-partner does not think your children will be safe around you. You have been advised to seek legal advice. You say you do not want to do this, but would like to see your children. You would like to know if the court will grant supervised access. You have been told by children's services that they will not facilitate contact and the case has now been closed. You would like to know what you can do.

Firstly, I am sorry to hear that you are finding your current situation distressing.

Children's services do not have the power to compel your ex-partner to facilitate contact with your children. As their mother, she has parental responsibility, and has decided that it would not be in their best interests for this to happen. As you have been advised, it is probably most useful at this point for you to seek legal advice from a family law solicitor with a view to applying for a child arrangements order. A judge will look at your application, and may ask children's services to prepare a report. Ultimately the judge will make a decision regarding contact in what they believe to be your children's best interest and I am not able to tell you what the outcome of this would be.

Unfortunately at Family Rights Group we do not advise on private law applications. For free information and advice, you can contact Child Law Advice on 0800 800 0366. You may also find it helpful to contact Lucy Faithful, who advise those who have offended online, on 0808 1000 900.

I hope you have found this helpful.

Best wishes,

Suzie.