I have a four year old daughter who's residence was transfered to me from her mother at the age of two on the grounds of emotional/psychological abuse. Her mother has mental health issues and sees her every other weekend but is unreliable, so much so that it caused my daughter to suffer panic attacks, attachment problems and anxiety which resulted in the intervention of a child psychologist nine months ago (This behaviour is from continuing issues with her mother, not the change of residence). She was discharged from that service about three months ago.
My ex has a five year old son and he visits his father, on average, every other weekend. There is no animosity but my ex exerts a lot of control over the son-father relationship and overnight stays have only started in the last year (they divorced when their son was a year old).
We never lived together, but all went on a short holiday and my ex and son visited and stayed with us quite few times. My ex only allowed my daughter to visit them once. Despite this, my daughter and her son know each other and get on well.
My ex and I had a baby born about 6 weeks ago. My ex tried to exclude my daughter from the pregnancy and only allowed her to see her new brother on five occasions before stopping all contact for both of us just before Christmas. My ex then registered the baby without me on the Birth Certificate and told us only to talk to her via her solicitor.
This has retriggered my daughter's emotional/psychological problems - The lack of a definite contact routine and uncertainty around seeing her new brother and my ex's son is similar to the problems presented by her mother. She will soon be referred to another child psychologist at the local hospital. There is a small chance that social services may become involved to investigate her mother and/or my ex and I am not sure whether this would be a good or bad thing?
Inevitably, this will go to court as my ex appears to be refusing
mediation and has no future contact planned for us. I know how to apply to court for me to have contact with my son, but not sure how I include my daughter? Can I name her in the application or apply on her behalf? She had a CAFCASS guardian from the change-of-residency case, could I request this again, possibly the same one?
From my son's perspective, I would also like his brother and sister to know each other as I think this would be greatly beneficial to him, i.e. my ex's son and my daughter, but they are unrelated. A brief conversation with the mediator suggested that all three children need to be considered, so could I request my daughter have contact with my ex's son (during contact with my son) for the benefit of my son?
I know this is a lot of background, but just looking for some direction. Thanks!
