The Court Room

So, the day had finally arrived – Me and Sarah were going to battle it out at great financial and emotional cost in a court room adjudicated by people that didn’t know us or Sonny.

What a complete mess it had eroded too.

None of this was my choice - In the blue corner the Dad, wanting to see to his son. Wanting his son to have a Dad. Wanting his son to have and Auntie, a Nana a Granddad.

And in the red corner, Sarah, Margaret and Ken wanting the opposite. Didn’t want Sonny to have a Dad, didn’t want him to have an Auntie, and didn’t want him to have his paternal Nana and Granddad.

They wanted him for themselves - He wasn’t a replacement and he was never going to be.

I drove to Sheffield with my Dad, he wanted to come to show how a Dad supports his son, and why son’s need their Dad in life, at times when they never thought they’d need them.

We met Louise my Solicitor at the court; she was upbeat and went through everything she expected to happen on the day. My Dad spent some time discussing the case with her and she again reiterated how confident she was that she’d be able to make a break through.

Was I nervous about seeing Sarah for the first time in such a long time and after everything she had done? Not really, I knew it would be strange but I just wanted to get on with things for Sonny.

When she arrived and I saw her literally stood a few feet away from me with her lawyer that did feel somewhat bizarre. Here was a girl who I’d spent an enormous amount of time with, the vast majority of it good. At one point we really cared for each other, we’d spent so much time together given she was in Sheffield and I was in Manchester. We’d been so on many holidays together, even getting herself arrested at New York airport for lying to customs and thus getting us both thrown out of America (but that’s another story!).

It felt strange that all these problems were stood a few feet away from me. It should have never got to this point but we were about to embark on a process that was going to cost us both in more ways than money and push us further away from resolving our differences for Sonny.

I remember her Solicitor was little pest. He was constantly asking to speak with my Solicitor, asking for confidential information about me which Louise obviously put him straight!

I remember over hearing her saying to him at one point “you can tell your client, he’s not going away – I can tell the court process isn’t going to deter him – he will fight to see his son”. That made me smile, I didn’t know what he’d asked her but she made it clear to him she wasn’t there to facilitate a soft agreement with her opposition.

When we were called into the court room I’m not sure exactly what I was expecting regarding the layout of both sides but what I wasn’t expecting was that they pretty much sat me and Sarah next to each other.

I remember making a side glance at her at one point and she was holding back tears. If I’m honest, I felt sorry for her. I felt like saying “Sarah what the fuck have you done, what are we doing here, why have you let this happen, you said you’d never do this”.

Obviously I didn’t but I did feel sorry for her – I shouldn’t have really, but I did.

I often wondered why she was crying – I would really like to think that it was because of what I’ve said above that she was thinking “how have I let this happen” but I don’t know. By her own admission she’s a complicated girl emotionally so I suppose only she would really know.

As was to be expected because of Sonny’s age and the fact that Sarah had alienated us from him at such an early age the first hearing was settled on the basis that CAFCAS would be instructed to investigate the case with a view to assisting in resolving matters.

I knew this would happen as Louise had already advised us. So, in essence the day went without any surprises, it was pretty straight forward and I knew that with an independent assessor involved I’d have a good shot at seeing Sonny, there was no way they were going to side with Sarah and stop me seeing Sonny. It went against what they are there for, to act in the child’s best interest when a parent can't.

So in a way even though I knew there was still a long way to go it was heading in the right direction and I knew Sarah & Margaret wouldn’t be happy – which at that point gave me a great deal of satisfaction. Even though she’d have probably been told this by her solicitor she was now facing the fact that our lives were going to be investigated, personal information would have to be divulged and we now have various 3rd parties involved in determining Sonny’s life.

At this point I’m sure it was dawning on Sarah and Margaret that this whole process was going to end in what can only be described as a loss for them. Their intent was to shut me out of Sonny’s life for good but there was no way on earth CAFCASS were not going to see that parental alienation was rampant in Sonny’s life.

#SonnyKing #ParentalAlienation #DadsandSons #TheTruth #Dronfield #Sheffield #FamilyCourts