Cafcass at a glance
Background
The Children and Family Court Advisory and
Support Service (Cafcass) was formed on 1 April 2001 as part of the
Government’s commitment to supporting families and
children.
It brought together the services previously
provided by the Family Court Welfare Service, the Guardian ad Litem
Services and the Children’s divisions of the Official Solicitor’s
Office.
Remit
Cafcass has a statutory responsibility to
ensure that children and young people are put first in family
proceedings, that their voices are heard, the decisions made about
them by courts are in their best interests and that they and their
families are supported throughout the process. We operate
within the law set by Parliament and under the rules and directions
of the family courts
Role of Cafcass
Cafcass’ role is to work with Children and
Families in the family courts. The following list provides
some examples of the types of cases we work with:
- Adoption (public law)
- Care Orders (public law)
- Emergency Protection Orders (public law)
- Residency and contact following divorce and separation (private
law)
Sponsoring Unit
Cafcass is sponsored by the Department for
Children, Schools and Families and is a non-departmental public
body.
Cafcass National Office:
6th Floor
Sanctuary Buildings
Great Smith Street
London
SW1P 3BT
Web Address: http://www.cafcass.gov.uk
Budget: £108.3 million
(2007/08)
Employees: Cafcass employs
around 2000 staff nationally.
Geographical Reach:
Cafcass is a national organisation
delivering services to children, families and the courts from over
100 sites across England.
Service Outputs:
For 2006–07 we promoted the interests of a total of 80,536 children
and young people involved in our services. This comprised 40,813
boys and young men (50.7%) and 39,723 girls and young women
(49.3%). This figure does not, however, include all of our support
work with contact centres. We estimate that we are involved with
around 100,000 children each year.
National Standards
Click
here to view the Cafcass National Standards. These set out what
service users, partner agencies and practitioners in the family
justice system can expect from Cafcass. They are safe national
minimum standards.