Mental Health issues cannot be a reason to bar you from seeing your child unless a Court, with medical advise, has determined you pose a real risk to the child, any other way is technically discrimination.
Under The Domestic Abuse Act 2021 Part 1. s1 p3 it states.(3)Behaviour is “abusive” if it consists of any of the following—
(a)physical or sexual abuse;
(b)violent or threatening behaviour;
(c)controlling or coercive behaviour;
(d)economic abuse (see subsection (4));
(e)psychological, emotional or other abuse;
and it does not matter whether the behaviour consists of a single incident or a course of conduct.Now, in case there are those who want to claim that if you are no longer in a relationship, as is oft cited for the authorities taking no action under the Serious Crime Act 2015 s76 due to how they worded the definitions, the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 was very deliberate in this. The Domestic Abuse Act 2021 Part 1, s2 states the following. Definition of “personally connected”
(1)For the purposes of this Act, two people are “personally connected” to each other if any of the following applies—
(a)they are, or have been, married to each other;
(b)they are, or have been, civil partners of each other;
(c)they have agreed to marry one another (whether or not the agreement has been terminated);
(d)they have entered into a civil partnership agreement (whether or not the agreement has been terminated);
(e)they are, or have been, in an intimate personal relationship with each other;
(f)they each have, or there has been a time when they each have had, a parental relationship in relation to the same child (see subsection (2));
(g)they are relatives.
(2)For the purposes of subsection (1)(f) a person has a parental relationship in relation to a child if—
(a)the person is a parent of the child, or
(b)the person has parental responsibility for the child.
(3)In this section—
“child” means a person under the age of 18 years;
“civil partnership agreement” has the meaning given by section 73 of the Civil Partnership Act 2004;
“parental responsibility” has the same meaning as in the Children Act 1989 (see section 3 of that Act);
“relative” has the meaning given by section 63(1) of the Family Law Act 1996.
So, what this means is that your former girlfriend will need to go to court and have the court order a psychological or psychiatric assessment of you to allow them to make an accurate determination of your mental health. I would warn you, if she has evidence of violent outbursts, threats of harm, to yourself or her, or are are on medication to control psychotic breaks or similar significant issues, then she may be able to convince a family Court a protective order is warranted. If you have mental health issues, then I have to ask this question - are these recorded by your GP, are you under treatment of a registered Psychiatrist or Psychologist working for the local mental health team (AMHT), have you attempted suicide or in any other way harmed yourself that would support her claims? Look, I am not saying because you have any form of mental health issue you cannot see your child, you should, it is good for you and good for the child, but perhaps there is a compromise you can reach whereby you see your child for a period of time with another adult there, who the mother is agreeable to, if you can do this for say, 12 months, then you revisit the situation and both can avoid the bear pit that is family court. If she refuses any form of mediation or compromise, then I would suggest you seek legal assistance - contrary to the oft cited comment, you can get legal aid for Family Court matter, however, as legal aid funding is abysmal at this time, you will find this process arduous, again, legal advise is required. To check if you may be eligible for legal aid for this, please use this link as it takes you to the page that will check your eligibility for non-criminal legal aid. https://www.gov.uk/check-legal-aid
Mental Health issues cannot be a reason to bar you from seeing your child unless a Court, with medical advise, has determined you pose a real risk to the child, any other way is technically discrimination.
Under The Domestic Abuse Act 2021 Part 1. s1 p3 it states. (3)Behaviour is “abusive” if it consists of any of the following—
(a)physical or sexual abuse;
(b)violent or threatening behaviour;
(c)controlling or coercive behaviour;
(d)economic abuse (see subsection (4));
(e)psychological, emotional or other abuse;
and it does not matter whether the behaviour consists of a single incident or a course of conduct. Now, in case there are those who want to claim that if you are no longer in a relationship, as is oft cited for the authorities taking no action under the Serious Crime Act 2015 s76 due to how they worded the definitions, the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 was very deliberate in this. The Domestic Abuse Act 2021 Part 1, s2 states the following. Definition of “personally connected”
(1)For the purposes of this Act, two people are “personally connected” to each other if any of the following applies—
(a)they are, or have been, married to each other;
(b)they are, or have been, civil partners of each other;
(c)they have agreed to marry one another (whether or not the agreement has been terminated);
(d)they have entered into a civil partnership agreement (whether or not the agreement has been terminated);
(e)they are, or have been, in an intimate personal relationship with each other;
(f)they each have, or there has been a time when they each have had, a parental relationship in relation to the same child (see subsection (2));
(g)they are relatives.
(2)For the purposes of subsection (1)(f) a person has a parental relationship in relation to a child if—
(a)the person is a parent of the child, or
(b)the person has parental responsibility for the child.
(3)In this section—
“child” means a person under the age of 18 years;
“civil partnership agreement” has the meaning given by section 73 of the Civil Partnership Act 2004;
“parental responsibility” has the same meaning as in the Children Act 1989 (see section 3 of that Act);
“relative” has the meaning given by section 63(1) of the Family Law Act 1996.
So, what this means is that your former girlfriend will need to go to court and have the court order a psychological or psychiatric assessment of you to allow them to make an accurate determination of your mental health. I would warn you, if she has evidence of violent outbursts, threats of harm, to yourself or her, or are are on medication to control psychotic breaks or similar significant issues, then she may be able to convince a family Court a protective order is warranted. If you have mental health issues, then I have to ask this question - are these recorded by your GP, are you under treatment of a registered Psychiatrist or Psychologist working for the local mental health team (AMHT), have you attempted suicide or in any other way harmed yourself that would support her claims? Look, I am not saying because you have any form of mental health issue you cannot see your child, you should, it is good for you and good for the child, but perhaps there is a compromise you can reach whereby you see your child for a period of time with another adult there, who the mother is agreeable to, if you can do this for say, 12 months, then you revisit the situation and both can avoid the bear pit that is family court. If she refuses any form of mediation or compromise, then I would suggest you seek legal assistance - contrary to the oft cited comment, you can get legal aid for Family Court matter, however, as legal aid funding is abysmal at this time, you will find this process arduous, again, legal advise is required. To check if you may be eligible for legal aid for this, please use this link as it takes you to the page that will check your eligibility for non-criminal legal aid. https://www.gov.uk/check-legal-aid