EF (No.1) (Finding of Fact Hearing), Re

Facts

The applicant, Dr TC, is the father of EF, a girl born in November 2024 and aged one at the date of judgment; the respondent, WF, is her mother. The parents met in April 2023 and had a turbulent, 'on/off' relationship while the father worked as a doctor in Scotland and travelled back to his home in South Wales. They separated after EF's conception in early 2024, reconciled by a holiday to France that summer, and separated finally following an alleged incident on 22 January 2025, since when the mother has not permitted contact. The father issued an application for a child arrangements order on 14 April 2025, together with applications for a declaration of parentage and for parental responsibility, not being named on EF's birth certificate. The mother alleged domestic abuse in a C1A form dated 22 April 2025. Under the Pathfinder private law pilot operating in Cardiff, Cafcass Cymru's Family Court Advisor, Miss Gemma Densley, prepared a Child Impact Report dated 2 June 2025 recommending a finding of fact hearing and declining to recommend interim contact. At a case management hearing on 11 July 2025 the court identified the allegations to be tried, and the trial commenced on 20 October 2025 with the father as a litigant in person, a Qualified Legal Representative conducting his cross-examination of the mother.