Contact Orders: the Process

It would be really useful to see a clear step by step guide to applying for a contact order. Which forms do you fill in? How much does it cost? Do I need a MIAM? Do I need an FM1 form? Is a solicitor really worth the expense? How long does it take?

I have had all contact stopped with my children i cant even talk them by telephone.My eldest son wants nothing to do with me anymore but cannot explain to me why he feels this way.However his mother manipulates and tells him what to say by promising him money and toys as way of bribes.He is 9 years old and can make his owhn decisions but my 6 yr old son harry copies what his brother does, but my 3 year old daughgter freya is not old enough.I love them and care for their needs when they are with me and all 3 children are treated the same despite ethan being mny adopted son.whatever he decides i would never force him to see me and i will make this clear to the courts.

Your article dealing with contact orders may give the information on how to apply for contact with your children, however, what it fails to deal with is the actual reality of thier application. It is the truth that a judge can make as may contact orders as he likes, but they very rarely enforce them when mum refuses to allow the contact to go ahead. Contact orders are not worth the paper they are written on! Ken Clarke was recently interviewed on the world at 1 on radio 4, he was told of an actual case where a good father had spent a fortune on trying to get his contact orders enforced. This father attended hearing after endless hearing presided over by the same judge who made the contact orders. Eventually this judge decided to ignore the contact orders entirely and made a final order that the father was not to see his child at all. You may ask what reasons did the judge give for such a heartless decision, I will tell you why. The Judge said that it was not in the childs interests to be "shunted about" (as he put it) from home to home and that it would unsettle the mother to much, and also if the child witnessed the mother being up set, then that was not in the childs interests emotionally. We all know the old chestnut used at courts and by the judges "The welfare and interests of the child are paramount"(er yes!) in reality this means that if mum is upset that contact takes place she can claim the chestnut as her own and use it broadly, but unfairly, and then claim the principle as though it was on behalf of the child. Once the mother is given residency of the child she will claim that to allow contact will unsettle the childs home life to much, and you know what, most judges go along with them! Now to deal with the issue of Cafcass, that you mention as "experinced" (sorry I laughed when I read that). My experience with them has shown that they are entirely biased in favour of the mother and 99% of them are women, this puts the father at a great disadvantage. You may think that it really doesn't matter what gender they are, but women being women it most certainly does! To make the father go away and to tire him out they will manufacture evidence on a grand scale to suggest that father should be made to jump through as many hoops as they can put before him. When the father becomes understandebly angry (after many years of this) they can then suggest that he is a violent man and has a personality disorder. They will then tell the judge that contact needs to be supervised and that dad needs to pay £75 for 2 hours per month. All conversation with the child will be recorded and anything that can be misapplied by the cafcass officer, as negative, will be altered to mean something else entirely. After being told that he has no right to know of his childs education or any medical records, he eventually realises that his role as father is not really needed anymore and he was just really a sperm doner. He will then be told that he can only write to his