CAS suggesting Family Assessment

[Trix]

D10 / D12

Synopsis of pas 18 months.

September 0f 2015, mom accused me of assaulting her. Investigation determines there was no assault or intent to commit assault (mainly because I didn't)

October, 2016, mom accused me of abusive behaviour towards our daughters because I lost my temper when they were home (I scared them, I am acutely aware of that and have been engaged in therapy to work through a number of things to better be able to handle my frustrations)

December, 2016, CAS determines there is no reason to believe that I am or have been abusive towards our daughters and that I am "doing a great job" (I know, but it's still kind of nice to hear). CAS also voices concern over mom's impact on daughters emotional well being and advises me to take notes and go back to family court and that the report that will be filed will outline their concerns and make the suggestion of a family or parenting assessment.

D10 and D12 show more and more anxiety, counselor states that one is depressed and other is overly anxious with significant separation anxiety with their mom.

Lawyer states legal hurdle will be the fact that there is a clause for third party dispute resolution in our existing order (I'm not asking for anything other than someone to take a look our daughters situation and assist in getting supports in place and provide input in to how best to ensure our daughters have as healthy relationships as is possible with all of their family)

Two days after getting file-closing letter from CAS. A second allegation of abusive behaviour filed by mom. CAS advises they will be maintaining an open file and that it is their recommendation that a family assessment take place.

Question:

Has anyone here filed an application to the OCL jointly.

This cannot wait. I do not believe this is a matter for dispute resolution.

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Trix

[trinton]

Bring a motion to involve the OCL and mention the CAS recommendation and the mom's continued unfounded allegations against you.

PS. She's on a mission to cut you out of your own children's life.

[vocalfather]

Yup...fully agree. File that motion - she is very much trying to push you out of their lives - very similar to my situation.

[Trix]

This is an interesting update, for me at least.

The CAS intake worker called yesterday as I was finishing up the contents of my affidavit.

She asked me to hold off on filing a motion for the matter to be forwarded to the OCL because she is going to approach her manager about CAS advancing the file themselves to have an assessment performed. If that doesn't happen, then go ahead and file the motion.

If that happens, I would think that having the Affidavit updated with CAS not only strongly recommending a Family Assessment, but also having them considered the possibility of advancing it themselves would only support the file being forwarded to and accepted by the OCL should this not come through.

In the end I am just hoping we can get some stability back into our daughters lives so they can get back to being emotionally stable and we can start feeling like a family again.

Trix

[billiechic]

Any update on this? I know it is old. We are in a similar situation and am hoping I can ask CAS to push for the same.
Thanks

[Trix]

Unfortunately, the threshhold for CAS to file an assessment is EXTREMELY high and we simply don't meet that criteria. Moreover, financial pressure also greatly limit their paying for one. Generally speaking, they will only do assessments for children who are 'in care' (in their care), to determine whether or not it is suitable for the child to return to either parent in any way.

Unfortunately, the initial worker jumped the gun in suggesting they may take up the cause to that extent.