http://www.telegraph.co.uk/family/5348727/Call-to-give-grandparents-access-rights-after-divorce.html
Grandparents should be given easier access to their grandchildren after parents separate or divorce, according to a report. Campaign groups called for a change in the law to remove the “unnecessary obstacle” that requires grandparents to go to court to ask permission to make an application for contact. Families Need Fathers, The Grandparents’ Association and Family Matters Institute said the role grandparents can play must not be ignored.
Our sons marriage collapsed as she had found somebody else. We have two grandchildren aged three and four years and haven’t seen them for over two years now. The four year old keeps asking his mum to see us but she says no. Our home was his second home and he spent so much time with us. Despite the break up we even had the children when she and her new man moved out of the RAF married quarters into a council house. As soon as she married him she refused access. Our son has had to leave the RAF to show his commitment as he was accused by her and by CAFCASS of not showing commitment due to tours of Afghanistan and Iraq. He is now out of work and luckily can claim legal aid but prior to that he had to pay over £11,500 for legal fees (well, we paid from our pension savings). He sees the kiddies six hours on a Sunday and we have to give him money to take them out otherwise they would be wandering the streets with nowhere to go.
Mothers do this because the law permits it at present. We can’t afford to fight in the courts as our savings paid for his fight for access over the past two years. Court orders mean nothing, and when it does go to court she feins a fainting fit and turns on the tears. She has lied her way through it all and I now despair. I have cried so many tears over this and the injustice of it all. We are good grandparents and look after our youngest grand daughter while her mom works and she has no complaints. We are not paedophiles or violent people so where is the problem? We shouldn’t have to prove to CAFCASS that our home is a nice family one and we are decent people. A Guardian has been appointed to speak for the children, but having no faith in previous meeting with CAFCASS I wont hold my breath as they took the mothers side completely, although they did suggest the children come for days only to get used to us again but the mother cried and lied and pretended to faint so the Court bowed down to her “fragile mental health”. If its this fragile then surely there should be concerns over the welfare of the children. My grandson had a black eye a few weeks back and told my son that his mothers husband threw a toy at him.
Now they have a new “daddy” and new grandparents so we are surplus to requirements. I have a 91 year old father who keeps asking for them and threatens to go looking for them. He suffers mild dementia and I am worried sick.
I have joined a site called Children Need Families and am trying to raise awareness that there is help and free legal advice to be had there. If nothing can be done for us then at least I feel I am doing something to help others in the same predicament.