“My ex abducted my kids, 1 year down the line i won my case abroad and brought them back now i have a case where cafcass are involved and suggest to me i let my kids move abroad with there mum, i have always been close with my kids and all i want is to see them. I at present have temporary custody yet what also is not fair is the fact that the hearing for all this has now been scheduled for 21 & 22/12/09. They seem to me that they now feel sorry for her and that i am the one who is doing wrong even though she abducted them and broke a court order preventing her from taking the boys out of the jurisdiction of the U.K”

“Cafcass in my case were very bad. They sided with my ex wife because she is a manic depressive and they were worried about the anxiety attacks affecting the children. Where does this leave me, up S creak without a paddle and no contact and where the children, very upset and missing their father who had always been very close and loving before me and ex split up. Social workers are worthwhile, cafcass in family law are appauling and biased and I agree with the chap earlier who said you have to be bad to get anything from them, else you get abused and thrown away as surplus to requirements, apauling gender biased and a throwback to the sixties and seventies organisation. A lot of them are ex probation officers (where the organisation originated) and see people who apply for contact as criminals.”

“Quite agree with every adverse comment about CAFCASS. Our case started in 1996 when my daughter was 3 - she's now 16. In and out of courts all that time with a different judge for every hearing.
Still unresolved after 13 years.
A farcical and miserable system which achieves nothing and damages children.”

“it is true that CAFFCASS is overrun with with work, but why do the expect the families especially the children to suffer because of this? the authorities are causing emotional abuse to children by causing familes to split up, waiting for court dates, not being heard, becoming distressed etc. families who have been through the process will know exactly what i'm talking about. these people in power are supposed to be intelligent, but it's become clear they have not much common sense.”

“i can assure you that the incompetance of CAFCASS is not isolated to your area, it is a nationwide problem, over the years there have been many inquiries and reports written on that organisation and i have never seen one with a good word to say.
until politicians take family law seriously the problem will not go away and children will carry on suffering, sadly nothing will be done this side of an election as this governemt doesn't want to point the finger and lose votes, i.e vindictive resident mothers who deny access and cause proceedings in the family courts by the non resident father.”

“re NSPCC and father supervision, this is shocking if truly proposed. Most fathers wouldn't dream of harming/abusing their own(or other) children. In most cases (as in Baby P) it is the other male(who likely has no children therefore not a natural father) in the family, ie mum's boyfriend who is more likely to do this. Do the NSPCC propose to check them? Why the anti-male bias anyway in all this? There are good fathers and good mothers, but equally there are not so good fathers and mothers.Many women take more care over buying a car than they do in choosing a boyfriend. And a ps to my eralier comment, I was disappointed at the fact that all the social workers/cafcass people in my case were women, and ,noticeably, they were childless or single women at that, i know because I asked them. Why no men involved? Had there been family men then they may have picked up on the flaws in the case and saved a lot of heartache.”

“I would then hope all those who say that supervisory orders are not given out willy nilly are NEVER in the situation of wanting access or applying for joint custody or whatever. If you have never been through the family courts on the "wrong" side you cannot comment on what my dh and many others have been through. Including false allegations when the supposed event has taken place when the other parent is working on the other side of the world. Tell me, how is someone supposed to "Kick my head in", (and yet leave no marks) as she claimed when he is on his last 6 month contract in Cape Town? She even got her sister to commit perjury by standing witness. How he was supposed to fly over, assault and burgle her and fly back for work the next morning I'll never know. But the accusation is still there on record.

If that is fairness then the system needs overhauling big time.

The NSPCC has declared that in the case of a family split ALL fathers should be supervised for at least 18 months regardless of the risk as they are more likely to abuse and fathers should never have custody.
Since when has father become synonymous with abuse? Since when has Father = abuser?

DH eldest is now 16 and is no longer under her mother's control. We had a text at 6am this morning, she is arriving at Barnstaple railway station later as she was left behind when her mother decided to move again, knowing that she no longer has control over her eldest's life and choices and knowing she has lost the benefits for her. She hasn't been educated properly for 4 yrs since her mother went on the run.
If my DH was that bad (apparently his other children believe he had been in prison for attempted murder and the mother had told the schools they attended that he was DEAD), why is she coming to live with us to go to college to take her GCSE's?”

“well said anon,devon. I too have had firsthand experience of social workers/cafcass. I was a keen and loving father who put his family first yet the allegations and lies I have had to endure from my ex wife and her co-conspirator boyfriend at the time caused the children and me terrible emotional harm. She made allegations over a number of years to social workers who rightly said they'd like to see me but she cleverly said no to this 'in case I got violent towards her'! Thus allegations were presumed true without substantiation and then when I tried to arrange contact the allegations were used against me! Subsequently the Family Welfare lady criticised the social workers for not checking the facts, BUT it was too late then as I was out of the home courtesy of the police when my ex wife and her other half alleged that I had assaulted her. The police understandably had to act and I was removed from the family home. That enabled a status quo to develop and so My and the children's fate were sealed.To add insult to injury she has shown the children her allegations in print and in effect convinced them that such are true! The judge even criticised her for this but without any redress to the harm she has done. My experience of family courts, social workers, cafcass etc has been bitter and I was shocked at how a woman is presumed to be the best parent yet a father has to prove he can be good parent. I dread to think of how many youngsters have gone off the rails as a result of cafcass' inept handling of something as precious and dear to many men as their children.”

“Is CAFCASS having problems all around the country, because im due in court tommorrow as im seeking a joint residency order for my 3 kids and stumbled across this site while trying to find imformation about what people think of CAFCASS.”

“As mentioned earlier, supervised contact orders are NOT given out without good reason and until very recently cases heard in the FPC were held privately so it's somewhat difficult to make any balanced judgement without the facts. The fact is that both Cafcass and Local Authorities are experiencing high workloads after recent events and you can't blame them for that.
A guardian is a highly trained individual who has lots of experience in family proceedings both private and public and replacing staff may not be as simple as it sounds.
As with many issues around the legal system, money is a real problem and unfortunately those who rely on funding from central government just have to live with what they are given.
Its unfair to blame the local authorities, courts or Cafcass for extended timescales - all involved do all they can with what they are given always acting in the best interests of the child, not the parents.”