Please help! An order has been made

[Armchair123]

History of dv (only one time police called unfortunately) been working with woman’s aid for previous 3 years. Ex is extremely manipulative and very well spoken. He lies, and lies and lies. And even though I can evidence the lies, no one ever seems to be bothered. He has been harassing me in various formats since the split last year. A main thing he done was raise serious safeguarding concerns about me with my children. They were looked into (without my knowledge at first) and then dropped for a few hours. Until they phoned him and they opened a case. She said ‘he’s like a dog with a bone’ and don’t worry it will all be toughen untrue. I let them do as assessment (thinking it would be about his allegations) these were brushed over (obviously stating they weren’t true) and then the final report made out he was an amazing parent and in his words, he received a ‘glowing reference’ from them. This was then obviously used in court. I raised many issues through the report being printed. This included, i viewed the social workers Facebook page and she was a friend of the family (his side). She was the same age as and to the same school as, his grown up daughter and her boyfriend was friends with my exes brother! I raised with manager who said she will amend the report. She went off on a family emergency and the original social worker amended the report! Showing slightly less bias! I have since made an appeal to the ombudsman.
Now, I’m wanting to know can I appeal the outcome of the court order made by magistrates who used the report to reach their decision?

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear Armchair123,

Thank you for your post and welcome to the Parents’ Forum. I am Suzie, an online adviser replying to you today.

I am sorry to hear about your distressing circumstances and I am glad that you are receiving sound support from Women’s Aid.

You feel that your ex-partner finds ways to harass you since your separation last year. It’s your view that the safeguarding concerns he has raised with children’s services are part of this pattern of behaviour from him.

It’s not entirely clear from your post but I think you are explaining that following your partner’s allegations there were child protection enquiries opened but then there was no further action. You can read more about child protection enquiries here.

You then go on to describe a report for court which may have been a Section 7 report possibly for a child arrangements order private family proceedings. You can read more about child arrangements orders here.

Can you clarify these details so that I am better able to answer your enquiry. Many thanks.

Best wishes,
Suzie

[Armchair123]

Thank you for replying, I’ll try and make it more clear. He raised (false) serious allegation against me that were proven to be untrue. But the final report glazed over the initial allegations and ended up being about his contact - and saying he is suitable for overnight contact with the children. The entire report was based around this, and not his initial allegations. This then meant in court there was no section 7 ordered because there was already a safeguarding report in place (orchestrated by him) and the issues I was having (trying to get my daughter to go visit him) were never looked into. Now she is having serious emotional and physical responses to being forced into going because an order is in place.

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear Armchair123,

Thank you for explaining more about the situation.
You elaborate that following your ex-partner’s past serious allegations children’s services made child protection enquiries and concluded that your children were not at risk of significant harm either in your care or in their father’s.

You feel that this assessment focused disproportionately on your partner’s parenting and was unduly positive about his parenting capacity. You are awaiting the outcome of a complaint to the local government ombudsman about the way this report was conducted.

As children’s services have reached this conclusion this is now a private law matter and as such outside the remit of Family Rights Group.

You can find information about child arrangements orders and their variation on the Child Law Advice here and Rights of Women website here.

You are concerned about your daughter’s levels of distress about the overnight contact with her father under the child arrangements order that is in place.

Anna Freud Centre is a charity set up to support children and young peoples’ mental and emotional health. They have online resources including short videos for parents and carers who are separating/separated and in conflict about co-parenting issues. You can link to these here.

The Anna Freud Centre pages also provide links to other support organisations for parents negotiating co-parenting after separation.
I hope this is helpful.

Best wishes,
Suzie

[Winter25]

Hi Armchair123,

I have just read your story, and I am so sorry for what you and your daughter have been put through i know this was some months ago . What you have described is not just a difficult situation; it is a textbook example of how a manipulative ex-partner can "orchestrate" and "hijack" the social work and court process. Your feelings are completely valid, and you are right to be furious.

The official advice to simply read links about private law i feel is not good enough. It fails to acknowledge the core injustice you have faced: a court decision was made based on a corrupt and biased report, and now your daughter is suffering. You need a strategy to fight back.

Answering Your Question: "Appeal" vs. "Vary"
You asked if you can appeal the court order. A formal "appeal" has very strict time limits (usually 21 days from the date the order was made) and can be difficult.

However, you have something much more powerful: you can make a new application to the court to "vary" (change) the existing order. You would be arguing that there has been a significant change in circumstances since the original order was made.

Your New Evidence: The "Significant Change"
The "significant change" is the observable harm the current contact arrangement is causing your daughter. Her "serious emotional and physical responses" are not just a problem; they are your most powerful piece of new evidence. The system failed you before because they ignored your warnings. Now, you have the tragic proof that your warnings were correct.

Your Action Plan: How to Fight Back
You feel like nobody is listening. It is time to force them to listen in a courtroom, armed with new evidence.

Step 1: Get Urgent Legal Advice
You need to contact a family law solicitor immediately. When you speak to them, tell them you need to make an urgent application to vary a Child Arrangements Order because it is causing your child significant emotional and physical harm.

Step 2: Document the Harm
This is now your most important job. You must create a "harm diary" for your daughter. Every single time she has an emotional or physical reaction before or after contact, you must log it with the date, time, and exactly what happened. This diary is your key evidence.

Step 3: Make the Application to Vary
Your solicitor will file the application. In your supporting statement to the court, you will present two powerful arguments:

The New Evidence: You will detail all the instances of your daughter's distress from your "harm diary," proving that the current order is harming her welfare.

The Corrupt Foundation: You will attack the credibility of the original social work report. You will provide the evidence of the social worker's Facebook connection to his family. You will explain how the report was "hijacked" from being about his false allegations to being a "glowing reference" for him. This shows the judge that the original decision was based on a biased and untrustworthy foundation.

You are not re-running an old fight; you are starting a new one, armed with new and powerful evidence of the harm being caused to your daughter. This is your chance to make a judge finally listen. Please, do not give up.
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For full transparency, I am not an official adviser for this forum. I am a parent who has been through a long and successful legal battle with a local authority, and I am here to offer supportive, strategic advice based on my own lived experience. The information I share is for guidance, and it is always up to each parent to decide what is right for their own situation.