CAFCASS trying to stop over night stays

[Scaredand confused]

Hi really need some advice urgently.
Gone through about 10years now due to partner children.
Fast forward and contact supervised by myself but overnights couldn’t be agreed until specialist risk assessment. Saved and spent £6000 on one. All positive and childrens mother agreed moved forward to overnights and 50/50.
All been going great and no problems at all. Even been on holidays abroad etc.
We applied to court to request a change to order and to move from supervised to supported.
Court lost the application so it’s taken 9 months to actually get anywhere because no one would actually answer my enquiries about how much longer.

Cafcass called, stirred up some bits from the past and made a few comments.
She then called yesterday as we were picking kids up from school to say she recommended stopping over nights until court approved as she thinks SS need to assess. We explained SS not involved and told we didn’t meet the threshold but also the assessment we had done was by someone specifically trained in this area to assess the risks.

Court is in less than a week but we have concerts and stadium tours booked for the weekend as the kids Christmas presents.
As far as we know the children’s mother has no concerns as I am following the safety plan etc but now really worried about court.
The judge assured us previously that if assessment positive he would follow it.

The order only stated that supervision had to remain unless court lifted it so we have continued that and that time spent could be arranged between parents.

Any advice from anyone massively appreciated as this honestly has just flipped our whole world

[Winter25]

CAFCASS Recommendations are NOT Court Orders!
This is the most important thing to remember: CAFCASS cannot stop your contact. Only a Judge can do that. If your current order allows for arrangements to be made between parents, and the mother is currently in agreement, the overnights can and should proceed. Unless the mother explicitly tells you she is withdrawing consent because of that phone call, CAFCASS has no power to "stop" your weekend.

You have been successfully doing 50/50, overnights, and even foreign holidays without incident. In family law, the "Status Quo" (what is actually happening and working for the children) is extremely powerful. A Judge will be very reluctant to overturn a successful, long-term arrangement based on a CAFCASS officer "stirring up" historical issues that have already been mitigated.

You spent £6,000 on a specialist risk assessment. That is a "Gold Standard" report. CAFCASS suggesting that a generalist Social Worker (SS) needs to "re-assess" is a waste of everyone's time, especially since SS have already told you that you don't meet the threshold for

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Hi really need some advice urgently.
Gone through about 10years now due to partner children.
Fast forward and contact supervised by myself but overnights couldn’t be agreed until specialist risk assessment. Saved and spent £6000 on one. All positive and childrens mother agreed moved forward to overnights and 50/50.
All been going great and no problems at all. Even been on holidays abroad etc.
We applied to court to request a change to order and to move from supervised to supported.
Court lost the application so it’s taken 9 months to actually get anywhere because no one would actually answer my enquiries about how much longer.

Cafcass called, stirred up some bits from the past and made a few comments.
She then called yesterday as we were picking kids up from school to say she recommended stopping over nights until court approved as she thinks SS need to assess. We explained SS not involved and told we didn’t meet the threshold but also the assessment we had done was by someone specifically trained in this area to assess the risks.

Court is in less than a week but we have concerts and stadium tours booked for the weekend as the kids Christmas presents.
As far as we know the children’s mother has no concerns as I am following the safety plan etc but now really worried about court.
The judge assured us previously that if assessment positive he would follow it.

The order only stated that supervision had to remain unless court lifted it so we have continued that and that time spent could be arranged between parents.

Any advice from anyone massively appreciated as this honestly has just flipped our whole world

Dear Scaredandconfused

Thank you for posting again and updating on the situation for your family now. It appears that contact which you supervise for your partner and his children happens without any issues. The children’s mother is happy with the arrangements which have been working well for the children and the adults concerned. Contact has included holidays abroad.

Contact was going very well with the children so your partner wanted contact to move forward with unsupervised to supported contact and for overnight stay, The judge indicated that contact should not include overnight stay until a positive specialist risk assessment was done and the court needed to change the contact to include overnight. A significant amount was paid for the specialist assessment, so an application was made to the court.

The Cafcass officer is now suggesting that overnight stays should stop until an assessment is done by a social worker even though they have already said no need for them to be involved. As you may be aware, a Cafcass officer is involved in cases to consider children’s welfare and make recommendations to the court. It seems from your post that overnight contact has been happening without the court confirming that it could even though there is a positive risk assessment. This may be the concern for the Cafcass officer because the change happened without oversight from the court.

The Cafass officer’s recommendation is just that, a recommendation, it has not been sanctioned by the court. The judge may not agree with this. As you are due to have a hearing very shortly, I suggest that you await the outcome of the hearing. I am assuming that this is the first hearing and not a final one.

Your understanding is a reassurance from the judge that a positive risk assessment would be followed. However, it would be unusual for this to happen and the judge not leave the case open for when the assessment is completed so it could be filed with the court. Your partner and you have done as the court suggested and obtained the specialist assessment so it will be for the court to decide whether that assessment is enough or a further assessment will be needed.

Provided you follow the safety plan as usual I think it is possible for you to take the children to the planned activities. You could write to the court to inform the judge that these were pre-arranged. The Cafcass officer’s suggestion is what she thinks should happen but the final decision if for the judge to make. So follow the arrangement previously agreed by the court.

As we do not advise specifically on private law cases, these suggestions are based on the information you provided and are general observations. You could, if you do not have a solicitor representing you consider contacting Child Law Advice via their website HERE. They offer advice on private family cases about contact, residence and other matters.

Hope this is helpful.

Best wishes

Suzie

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https://childlawadvice.org.uk/