Last year, National Legal Service successfully represented a mother who was in a sexually abusive relationship. She was facing parental alienation and coercive behaviour accusations from the father of her children.
Maria’s (*not her real name) partner had applied for a cross application for a Prohibited Steps Order (PSO) due to Parental Alienation (PA).
Maria stated she was controlled financially by her partner, who would also physically abuse her in view of their children. She was raped during the relationship, which led to her experiencing PTSD symptoms.
With our legal support, our Maria secured a Non-Molestation Order (NMO) against the father, as well as a Child Arrangements Order (CAO) so that her children could reside with her.
The father breached the Non-Molestation Order, despite our client living in a refuge. The children once again witnessed the abusive behaviour of their father on each breached visit.
The cross application for a Prohibited Steps Order and Parental Alienation was then made by the accusing father, which was an attempt to stop Maria moving out of the area with their children through official court proceedings.
A children’s guardian was initially appointed to care for the children while three days of fact-finding-hearings (FFH) were carried out.
The court decided that there was no evidence of Maria alienating the children and criticised the conduct of the father.
With our specialist team’s assistance, Maria was able to provide text-based evidence of her disclosing sustained periods of abuse to the accuser’s family.
We helped Maria prepare further substantial statements of evidence that was cross-referenced with police reports to ensure Maria’s case could be best presented to the court.
Maria also had access to one-to-one guidance and our team out of hours for additional support.
Relieved to have closure from her traumatic experiences Maria has since been able to undergo treatment for her PTSD symptoms and is rebuilding her life with her children.
