Mother was forced to face family court without lawyer

Stood in front of a judge with her whole world at stake, Sarah* remembers “stumbling” over her words, desperately trying to understand what was unfolding in front of her.

- NICOLE WOOTTON-CANE

Across the room, her ex-husband Al*'s experienced barrister spoke to the judge in jargon she could not understand. It was two years into the pair's dispute over custody of their young daughter, Elsie* - something she was terrified would put the four-year-old at risk because of his heavy drug use.

But despite her best efforts to keep Elsie safe, Sarah knew she would be left unable to protect her. A broken legal aid system left her forced to represent herself in family court, “too poor” to properly advocate for her child.

Sarah met Al at work 15 years prior, and the pair were happily married when Elsie came along. But when Al’s health worsened, he began to lean heavily on marijuana, often smoking “a joint every hour”, according to Sarah. When he didn’t smoke, he would become angry and rude, a “different person - like Jekyll and Hyde”, she said.

He stopped allowing Sarah to have anyone else in the house, cutting her off from family and friends, and racked up around £11,000 worth of debt, much of which was in her name.

Eventually, she left the relationship and managed to move into a housing association property with Elsie. She says she never prevented her ex-husband from spending time with their daughter, but drew the line at overnight stays “until he could prove he could keep her safe”.

“I knew from the marijuana smoking how hard it was to wake him up at times,” she explained. “How can I leave a four-year-old with him overnight? It felt irresponsible.”

But Al insisted on equal access to Elsie, often refusing to leave Sarah’s house after dropping her off or wedging his foot in the door to keep it open. On more than one occasion, she says he launched into a tirade of “verbal abuse” in front of their child.