Hello my ex wife and I divorced 5 years ago we have one son who is now 9 years old
2 years ago my ex and her new partner and our son moved from London to Folkestone (on the south coast) this changed the contact I was having with our son I was seeing him 9 nights a months they lived in London but when they moved to Folkestone midweek contact became very difficult so I had 6 nights contact a month and 50% of the school holidays I travel down to Folkestone to collect my son and I return him to his mum or to School.

2 months ago my ex phoned me to say that her and her partner and our son were planning to move to france sometime next year, this is where it gets slighty complex my ex's partner is being investigated by the police for for having evidence of child pornography on his computer he was arrested and bailed and then rebailed and as a result he is only allowed supervised contact with our son so my son and my ex are now staying with her eldest daughter who lives nearby, when I was told of the planned move I contacted a solicitor who told as I PR they can't leave to country without my permission the solicitor sent my ex a letter explaining this, my son does not want to go and live in France, they have no ties to the country no family no friends no support network and with these aligations aginst her parnter social services told me that even if the police choose not to pursue the case their will always be a sense of doubt and as my ex wife is standing by him I'm very worried for my sons safety I'm not en­title­d to legal aid as I earn just over the amount you need to earn, and as the cost of solicitors is so expensive, so any advice at all would be greatly received
Thanks

I can't understand a mother that would put her neediness or loyalty to a suspected peodophile before the safety and protection of her son!

Is there any way you can parent your son if she does decide to move to France with her new partner?

Have you alerted any child protection agencies or anyone? (not sure which route you should take?)

Hi there, yes I spoke to social services at the end of the summer (before the move came up) they said that even if the police don't press charges against him they could still recommend that he still has no unsupervised contact with our son as their would be a sense of doubt I spoke to them again a few weeks ago to see if they had any new information from the police (which they hadn't) I also alerted them to the planned moved they said that she needed my consent to remove our son and if it went to court social services would be asked to submit a report on what they thought the best interests of our son would be. at the moment with the job I do It would be difficult to care for my son full time but if need be I would change my working pattern or job.

You might find this article about leave to remove useful;

http://www.familylawweek.co.uk/site.aspx?i=ed878

Hi there

Fiona thanks for posting that ­link­ - it is a great summary on removals.

However, in Screens case, I think Social Services will be against any proposed move on the basis that the child may be at risk with the step father and they are without powers should the child move.

I also think the court would be against a move on the same basis - he cannot order the equivalent of French SS to become involved, so this could be a child that would slip through the child protection net, which the court would attempt to prevent, even if that meant a change of residence to dad.

And Dad - you need to consider your position re this little one. If mum cannot see what a danger this man may present, you need to consider if it is time for you to step up to the plate.

Amanda

So would SS initiate proceedings to prohibit the move then or would they report as part of LTR proceedings?

Hi Fiona

If they became aware that she was going to attempt removal without seeking the court's consent they would instigate public law proceedings to protect the child by way of an application for either a care order or, if time was short, an emergancy protection order. If time v short they can speak to an Inspector and get a police protection order, which means the police take the child into protective custody and release him or her to social services as a short term measure while SS get papers in order for an application.

If there is time they can help dad to get a PSO if appropriate.

If mum issued leave to remove, or dad issued PSO to prevent, they would do the Section 7 instead of Cafcass on the basis of recent involvement, which at any point they could request turned into a section 37 investigation so they could request a care order if they felt that neither parent could or should care for the child.

Amanda