WHEN ARE CHILDREN LISTENED TO!!!????
Hi. I have found myself in a mess within the law system and don't know what to do. To cut a long story short I was in an abusive relationship and plucked the courage to leave for good after he was violent infront of our child. We have been in and out of court for the past 5 years and a finding of fact hearing was planned however I pulled out at the last minute due to me not having the strength to go through the past and having to speak out in front of people (this was the biggest mistake of my life so if anyone is going through this my advise would be to not give up and keep going).
However this is not my issue. My issue is the fact that I gave the man who is supposed to be a father the chance to be a father and he has blown it. My eldest who is now 6 came home from a day visit traumatised about the days events so much so I stopped any contact instantly and heard nothing from him for the next 3 months. But come December last year I got an enforcement order through the door informing me I had to go to court to explain why I had breached the court order which was in place for the children to see him.
The children are 4 & 6 and do not want to see him and have not had contact with him properly for 15 month now. However no matter what I do or say the courts are adamant that the contact between the girls and him must go ahead. This is causing my children distress every time they hear him mentioned and every time they have to go and see him.
I have tried for a year now to safeguard my children but all I keep getting is I am breaching the order and the children need to have a relationship with their paternal father. There has been a section 7 report, which came back that no contact should take place however a contact centre has got involved now. I have had a solicitor for a short period of time also which helped but not on my purse strings.
But today after a lengthy court hearing I have been told if I do not obey the court order then ultimately the children could end up in his sole care this is a worse nightmare for any mum not just because they are my babies but this man will take their innocence away and destroy their childhood. I have been ordered back to court later this month to find out if I face community service and all in the name of safeguarding my children from a dangerous man.
I just don't know where to turn, what must a mum do to be heard and give children a voice so they are heard and do not become what is such a sad statistic of children being left to slip through the net and something tragic happen to them because the system set in place to protect children has failed them.
If anyone can offer me any advise as to where to turn it would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you for taking the time to read this.
From one loving mum to another.
