Teenager not wanting contact with his Dad

I''m posting this question on behalf of my sister who is very stressed by the whole thing.

My nephew who is 14 and has mild aspergers, does not currently want contact with his Dad.

His Dad moved out at the start of the year and has a history of domestic violence towards my sister and my mum. My nephew is very scared of his Dad and has told Cafcass that he currently doesn''t want to see his Dad but is happy to have email contact with him.

The Dad isn''t accepting this and is trying to push for contact via the family court. This is creating huge stress for both my sister and my nephew and the family court are trying to force my nephew to see his Dad even though though nephew is adamant he doesnt want to and Cafcass have agreed that contact is not currently a good idea.

Has anyone got any ideas on how to deal with this situation?

I would be more concerned if there is forced contact but as there isn''t, then at least the 14 year old is safe and supported.

I would wait to see what happens. Lots of people threaten court but even if he does go through with it, the son at 14 has his own views and these will carry weight with the court. The most important aspect is the welfare of the child.

Contact does not just mean face to face contact so if the son is happy with email contact, then that is a solution.

what do you mean by " the family court are trying to force my nephew to see his Dad " - has there been an order, either interim or full?

Contact is for the benefit of the child, not the parent(s) and at 14, and depending on your nephew''s maturity and understanding of the situation, his views should be given some regard when a final decision is made.

My daughter has AS and does not want to see her father and has not done so for almost 3 years, so I totally understand your situation. She is now 18. She needs calm in her life and her father makes her feel uncomfortable because he can be intimidating. When my daughter was being seen by CAMHS, I brought the subject up about her not seeing her father and the long term effect this could have on her. He thought I was stopping her from seeing him but at no time have I ever done this with any of the children. They spoke to her about it and she made it quite clear that not seeing him made her less anxious. They said it was her decision and that we should respect this. This was all stated in her diagnosis letters from CAMHS so that if the court ever tried to make her see her father, I had the letters as a back up.