What is a \'Full Section 7 CAFCASS Report?\'

Hi all,

After a Fact Finding Trial over Domestic Violence, the Judge has ordered that contact between my ex and our 2 children will remain at a contact centre under the highest supervision that they can offer provide.

6 of the 13 allegations of Domestic Violence on me at the hands and mind of my ex were found by the Judge to be proved in my favour, the others she could not prove but thought it was likely that they occured.

Finally, after years of abuse infront of the kids, 13 months of trying to get help and after 10 months in court, I'm finally there.

The Judge has ordered a 'Full Section 7 CAFCASS report' to be carried out by CAFCASS. Does anyone know what this is exactly and of what they are likely to look at? No one seems to be able to tell me at my solicitors!

peppa x

(((((Peppa)))))
Sending you warm wishes. You must be delighted with this result and so relieved just to be believed at last.

I cannot imagine the pain you've suffered but I admire your bravery.

Well done! Still some distance to go, so keep going we're willing you on!

Mitchum xx

Hi Peppa,
A section 7 report deals with issues like the childrens wishes and feelings, the issue of how contact should proceed and eventually end up.
They usually speak to the children both in the company of you and then the father and assess the general atmosphere.
Having done all thier enquires etc: CAFACSS will then submit the report to the court.

It will outline what amount and kind of contact the children should have advising the Court of the child’s wishes and feelings and what the CAFCASS officer considers to be in the best interest of the child ­base­d on the child welfare checklist.
The Judge will then use the report for guidance when making his/her decision.

Tom is correct about the report.

As contact is supervised and at a contact centre at present, I would anticipate that the CAfcass resporter will either attedn a session there to see the childnre with their father, or may contact you to arrange a separate contact visit (supervied by the Cafcass offocer) to see them together.

He or she can make whatever enquiries they think are appropriate - in some cases that will involve speaking to third parties such as the children's school.

AS it sounds as though the main concerns and issues are around your ex's behvaiour, you may find that the Cafcass officer spends more time observing / speaking to him than s/he does with you. If this seems to be the case, don't worry. If s/he is happy that you provide good care and are going to support the childrnre for whatever contact is ordered, s/he may not feel s/he needs to spend a lot of time with you, wheras if there are lots of concerns about him, s/he may need to meet him more than once or spend longer with him to asses the elvel of risk he presents, his ability to change etc.

Thank you all so much.

It's been impossible to get any information about what a section 7 will involve until you guys stepped in. How did I ever survive without this website?!

My eldest son is only 4years and is reacting badly to the contact with his Dad after 1 year of no contact, directly or indirectly.

He's fine during contact sessions and the feedback reports from the centre were good but he is very upset afterwards (hysterical after the last visit) and night times are really bad with him screaming and not sleeping. He has become very clingy and dependant, which has been noticed by his pre-school and is showing some eratic behaviour. I am documenting everything.

Will CAFCASS take this into account and offer him support or do they not get that involved?

thanks
peppa x

peppapig.com wrote:
Thank you all so much.

It's been impossible to get any information about what a section 7 will involve until you guys stepped in. How did I ever survive without this website?!

My eldest son is only 4years and is reacting badly to the contact with his Dad after 1 year of no contact, directly or indirectly.

He's fine during contact sessions and the feedback reports from the centre were good but he is very upset afterwards (hysterical after the last visit) and night times are really bad with him screaming and not sleeping. He has become very clingy and dependant, which has been noticed by his pre-school and is showing some eratic behaviour. I am documenting everything.

Will CAFCASS take this into account and offer him support or do they not get that involved?

thanks
peppa x

Hi again pepa,
This section of your thread has stirred me into reposting,

After a year of being prevented from seeing my daughter I finally got regular contact by way of a contact order,
I would drop my daughter to school on Mondays and like your son she was very upset indeed,
So bad in fact that she couldn't go directly to class.
The school provided a mentor who would spend about half an hour trying to calm her.
She was so bad that almost every day she would break down crying in class and be brought to the mentor.

Her mother said she was upset because of the contact she had with me and a social worker who had befriended the mother supported her in this and on returning to court gave a report advising a huge cut in contact time.
I responded with a counter application for shared residence and asked that my daughter be assessed by a child psychologist to try to determine why she was so stressed.
Having done extensive assessments the psychologist presented his findings to the court.

He found that my daughter was being bullied by her mother before contact, being warned not to tell me anything about her mum.
Then after contact she was made to sit in front of her mother interrogated and continually slapped on the back of her hands when her answers didn't suit her mother.
She was forcefully coached as to what to tell her school and the social worker.
This all came out in the report.

So what the psych said when in the dock was,
"This little girl is under serious pressure and I am very concerned for her welfare.
Her mother must be persuaded to stop putting her under such strain before and after contact with the father.
She has told me that the thing she looks forward to most is being with her father.
She has said that the reason she is upset at school after contact is because she knows she will not see her father for two more weeks.
I am of the opinion that the main reason this child is suffering is because she does not see her father often enough."

As a direct result of this report I was awarded shared residence, midweekly staying contact every week extended weekend contact and half of all school holidays.
The social worker was ripped to bits for her biased reports and after I made an official complaint lost her job.

Now peppa what I'm trying to get at here is,
As you say he is fine during contact, so that indicated there are no problems with his father,
The fact that he is not upset before contact reinforces this.

Upset after contact would indicate to me (and most likely others too)that the reason for this upset is that the contact ended and he wants to be with his dad more.
You see, having spent nearly five years both in the court system and dealing online with parents having gone through very similar situations that you have I am of the opinion that in the main children will still have a very very strong bond with even an abusive parent.

I may be wrong of course as I am not a professional but it is something to consider.
In spite of everything that happened this little boy may love his dad to bits and may not show it so obviously to you as he may even at this early age sense the devide between you.

The thing is,
If it was just contact with his father that was making him so upset I am sure you would have to drag him into the contact centre kicking and screaming and after contact the upset would quickly sibside.
This seems to be the opposite.

Hey tom333,

I'm saddened by your story and admire you in your fight to get the truth known and to gain shared residence of your daughter. The stories I have heard of socail workers and CAFCASS since being on here are frightening.

My story is very different, I never denied my ex contact with our 2 children I only made sure that it happened in a place that was safe for them. He has a history of severe drink and drug use and is very violent, infront of the boys. He was also an 'absent' Father during our relationship, the only contact the boys had with him was when they saw and heard him smashing up the house or me.

The record held by the Police and my midwives during pregnancy spoke for themselves in my case.

Contact with me and the children was first stopped by the Police who were called out a year ago when he came to my home and smashed his way through the front door (you don't want to know the rest) Secondly by order of the court following other incidents of violence.

I have no wish or want to stop contact happening, quite the opposite as it goes. My Mother denied me a relationship with my Father when I was young so I know the damage that that can cause firsthand.

Before all this we had arranged contact at a local indoor play centre once a week. He was happy, the kids were happy and they started to rebuild their relationship. Then he found out (through hacking into my emails) that I was in a new realationship and the next thing I know i'm being taken to court over contact with him stating that I was denying him contact. I never wanted to go to court and i NEVR wanted (and still dont) want my children in a contact centre. I wanted them to meet in an environment where everyone was happy and that the children were safe.


I do not want my eldest son to harbour bad memories of his Father AT ALL as he does now and the only way to rid of the memories is for them to start a relationship again. I am all for this only it has to be done properly and SAFELY.

That was the question I was asking......will someone from CAFCASS be able to offer my son support as he really really needs it right now, in a proffesional capacity. I thought the staff at the centre were to offer his help but not.

I agree, I do not think his reaction is to do with not wanting to see his Dad, It is causing past memories to surface. These need to be addressed if he is ever to get rid of them. He loves going to see his Dad. He is VERY confussed right now (he calls my fiance 'Daddy' through his own choice and is very confussed about that also) and needs more help than Mummy can give him.

He doesn't talk about his visits with his Dad and I don't push him to tell me. He will talk when he is ready.

Hope that makes it a bit clearer. I'm honestly not here to stop contact, I just want the boys to be safe amnd happy. Right now they are neither.

Peppa x