Child and court ?????

My son is 13, 14 in August.
I have been to court twice, have sat and nodded in the right places, and have agreed to all what ex wife has ever wanted, no matter what the courts have said my son has continued to refuse to see his mum, which I find very hard to accept, im now being told i may get arrested, as i can be held in contempt of court
Our court in Oxford will not allow my son to represent him self,
But I believe there is a system in the uk that will allow him to have representation in court,
Can any one please advice?
Cheers

hi tshep
as far as i am aware your son can instruct a solicitor (had the same situation with my 14 yo last year).
i was given the number of a local solicitor by social services - children automatically receive legal aid.
good luck - my children have since all been made party to the proceedings, but that requires direction from the judge.
lou

Sticky situation for you

My friend has a child who was appointed his own guardian at the age of around 6 or 7, regarding his father taking the mother to court because he wanted contact with his son.

At 8 years old the boy in question was able to make himself plain to the guardian that he wished to have no further contact with his father and his wishes were respected. End of story.

I hope you manage to solve your dilemma. Good luck

Thank you for your help, it is truely appreciated, fingers crossed in time i will be able to sit and look back on all of this and support others in the same situation.

if anyone is like me and feels fathers in divorce are not
T

Hi
Contact NYAS, which is the National Youth Advocacy Service.

Amanda

I'd echo that - NYAS is probably the best way forward.

You can't be 'arrested' for your child refusing to see mum, he's at an age where he is Gillick competent and his wishes and feelings should be listened to. You should be encouraging contact though.

A child can have separate representation by a Rule 9.5 Guardian Ad Litem being appointed, however, due to the age of the child this is unlikely as at 13/14 he is quite capable of making his own decisions. CAFCASS may get involved but I would prefer NYAS to CAFCASS any day.

Hi Jitsuka,
ive been to court twice now, and had the CAFCASS report, agreed to all that was asked of me and nodded in all the right places, but my son still refuses to see his mother, so will only be a matter of time before im back in court, (better get the cheque book out again)
My son has always felt he and his wishes have not been listerned to, so am now talking to the NYAS.

Thanks for your imput.

Tony