Help supervised access

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Stj732006
Posts: 1
Joined: Fri Jul 28, 2017 9:28 pm

Help supervised access

Post by Stj732006 » Wed Aug 02, 2017 8:40 pm

Hi,

I'm not sure if somebody can give some advice.

Following being charged about two years ago for possession of indecent images I have attended a court ordered programme which finished a couple of months ago.

All of this time my soon to be ex wife has provided me with weekly supervised access to our two boys who are 4 & 7 at what was the family home (I have now moved out).

She has met somebody else who has now moved in , and I am aware it is difficult for them that they have to give up part of their weekend for me to visit he children. Their is nobody else that can supervise access as neither of us have families that live close by.

I have asked my probation officer about whether I can have unsupervised access to the boys at my house with my new partner (no overnight stays just them coming to me once a week), but she has said I would need to go to court for this, and she would not recommend this at this stage. She can't tell me how long this will take for me to challenge this, but I wanted to check whether this makes sense to anybody?

Thanks,

Stj732006
[*]edited by Suzie

B17630H
Posts: 6
Joined: Tue Jun 27, 2017 5:28 pm

Re: Help supervised access

Post by B17630H » Sat Aug 05, 2017 7:26 pm

Stj732006 8 [*]name edited by Suzie[*]
Nothing children's services does makes sense. Unless you have a court order preventing you from seeing your children then you should be allowed. The best thing you can do is get your partner on a course. Once that's done and the risk is lessened then go to court. Can I ask how many images and what sentence you received. How long have you been seeing your kids under supervised access ? You need to talk to your p.o to find out what you can do to reduce the risk. If necessary do so with a solicitor present. Please let me know how you get on. I hope things work out for you. Everybody makes mistakes. But everybody deserves the chance to rebuild

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Suzie, FRG Adviser
Posts: 4199
Joined: Mon Jul 04, 2011 2:57 pm

Re: Help supervised access

Post by Suzie, FRG Adviser » Tue Aug 08, 2017 2:18 pm

Dear Stj732006

Welcome to the Parents Discussion Board.

My name is Suzie, the online adviser at Family Rights Group. You have explained in your post that you are concerned about having contact with your children following your conviction for possession of indecent images.

You and your soon to be ex-wife have moved on with new partner and now the difficulty arises in you being able to maintain contact with your sons as you having been doing. Unfortunately, you and your wife have no relatives living nearby who could assist. Do you have a mutual friend who might be willing to help? Is your wife no longer willing to facilitate contact now she has a new partner? You are clearly conscious as you state in your post that your wife and her new partner may find it too much to give up their time so you can have contact.

Was there a restriction imposed on you by the court not to have unsupervised contact with children under 16? If yes, you would need to go back to go court that imposed the restrictions to see if this could be varied by the court. Alternatively, it may be that you have to consider having less than weekly contact to give your wife time for herself.

Your probation officer has advised you that she thinks it is too soon to have unsupervised contact and she would be asked to provide an opinion to the court on whether she would recommend a change in the current arrangement. The likelihood is that she would not support you having unsupervised contact.

I suggest you contact the Lucy Faithfull Foundation, an organisation that provides advice to sex offenders and their families. They will be able to advise you about your situation and issues relating to contact.

As you do not appear to have children’s services (new name for social services) involved with your family, I am not able to advise you further on private law contact. Private law contact means that the issue of contact is between parents or other family members. Our services advises where children’s services are involved or there are public law proceedings, that is, where children’s services is applying to the court.

In the circumstances, if you do decide to make an application to the court for a child arrangement order for contact, I suggest that you contact Coram Children’s Legal Centre (Child Law Advice) on 0300 330 5480 for advice about making an application. They do not advise individuals who already have a solicitor advising them.

I hope this is helpful.

Best wishes

Suzie

Chancing
Posts: 20
Joined: Mon Sep 19, 2016 2:39 am

Re: Help supervised access

Post by Chancing » Fri Aug 11, 2017 9:18 am

I have a thread about negotiating child welfare. If it's of any use.
What I will say is this may be asuch to do with introducing your kids to a new partner as it is to do with your offense.
How long have you been with her, does she understand your offense, does she understand what she is supposed to be watching for.
Quite often how child welfare respond has little to do with you as the offender.
The only people who can make a difference are those around you, by proving they will put the welfare of your children, before your needs.

A court is going to struggle to see how your girlfriend is going to be protective towards your children at the risk of her relationship with you.

This isn't that complicated to understand, if she has been with you for over a year and is willing to educate herself, it shouldn't be a problem when the time comes to go to court.

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