Hi thought I would try this site to share my experience on being a sole parent and the extreme frustration with the legal system, cafcass, legal service commission (legal aid) CSA and most importantly the rising number of men who will make themselves unemployed just so they don't have to pay maintenance lost all hope of anything ever being resolved whereby the ex partner is not a more favourable position!!!!
Well me & my daughters Father split up March 2009 and whilst for the first couple of years he was seeing the girls fairly regularly he seemed to be in the background kind of still wanting to be in our lives but not having to be full time head of family / Father Once he met someone via the internet we were history as if we were never in his life whilst I accepted this my daughters are too young to understand this change in behaviour On meeting his new partner whom he recently got married to he has broke all communcation with us changed his phone no.s and prioritised his needs and new partners needs over that of his children In addition withdraw all maintenance payments and when the CSA tried to implement an attachment to earnings order he announced he had lost his Job so was not able to make any maintenance payments and is still over a year on claiming benefit and not working for the specific purpose of not paying maintenance It seems that no one can help me in revealing how devious he has become since meeting his Wife He initiated family court proceedings to gain access to the girls bit this has now been dragging on since January with myself officially having to contribute £80 per month towards costs however only have enough income to pay the mortgage, utility bills and put food on the table Meanwhile he does not have to pay towards anything the system stinks and the CSA should be disbanded as they do not help matters and neither do CAFCASS constantly delaying submitting a section 7 report to the court on 2 occasions causing me to pay 3/4 mths monthly costs towards legal respresentation just because of their ineffective allocation of my case via the courts If you think you could give me any advice this would be greatly apreciated as I am due to go and have a meeting with CAFCASS this Monday after work in order for them to file a section 7 report to the court by the end of October
Hello Twilight12
Welcome to One Space! I hear the utter fury and frustration you are experiencing with the "systems" and the uncaring face of these bodies who have such an influence on the lives of you and your children.
Let's look at what you can do. Are you sure that the children's dad is still not working? I guess he may be thinking that to stay out of work during all these proceedings will mean he can get Legal Aid. Even if he is not working he still should contribute £5 a week to you. Not a lot but better than nothing when your budget is so tight.Contact our Child Support Expert for help with this.
You have a meeting with CAFCASS. Unless there is singificant risk to the children by seeing him (for example if he were violent) then it is pretty likely that contact will be endorsed so rather than getting upset by that, have a careful think about things that may be important, such as "the girls have been overlooked by him for so long that any contact needs to be designed to build up their relationship again, and be gradual, rather than just packing them off to his for the weekend" (if that is indeed what you think; it would be what I would think)
What does your solicitor say? We have our own Legal Expert if you want to ask her a question.
Let us know how you get on, there is lots of friendly support here 
Hi Twilight12,
Welcome to One Space.
You do sound very frustrated. Would you like to tell us a bit more about your situation - and yourself & your children?
Hopefully you'll be able to get some support from being part of the One Space community - we're a friendly lot who have a wide range of experiences to draw on.
Mary