Father withholding photos

[Nvff2011]

There is something I really need advice on.
Me and my ex split up years ago and he only sees my son once a month at a contact centre which gets reviewed every 3 months. When I left he had all the baby photos of my son, I do not have any copies. I asked a few times but he ignored me so I got my son's social worker to chase up after him.. She had asked him a few times and it's always either "I've been busy" or "I'll send it" but it never happened and it's been months then the social worker eventually reported him to the IRO at the last LAC review which he didn't attend and he sent him out a letter over it and the social worker has said he by refusing to give me copies of those pictures he's withholding my son's right to be able to look back on his life or something along those lines because right now my son is nearly 5 and I have no baby pictures to show him except for one on my key chain which isn't very good. I want to know what can I do? Would I be able to take it to court? I really don't want to do that unless that's the last resort but right now I don't know what else to do. He has and is still doing it to his other ex who is the mother of his second child so I know reasoning with him is not an option.
Advice please??

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear Saraawg

Welcome back and thank you for your post.

I am sorry that your former partner is behaving in this way and failing to provide photographs of your son.

From your post it appears that your son is in long term foster care. Children Services are probably trying to do a life story book for your son to help him make sense of his background as he grows up. Unfortunately, his father is not helping and is therefore not taking account of his son’s needs by failing to provide the photographs him when he was a baby.

I think it is possible to go court. If you made an application to the court it would to ask the court to make a specific issue order but as you might not know exactly what photographs he has, he could give just one or two.

I do not see how you can resolve this without going to court unless your ex-partner would be willing to meet with you in family mediation to discuss why he is refusing to provide the photographs. You could suggest that you will have the photographs copied so that he can have them back, have you suggested this.

You may wish to contact Coram Children’s Legal Centre for advice about making an application to the court. They give advice specifically on private law matters. Their telephone number is 0300 330 5480.

I hope this is helpful and that your son’s father will provide the photographs so you can at least make copies.

Best wishes

Suzie