Cafcass at a glance
Background
The Children and Family Court Advisory and
Support Service (Cafcass) was formed on 1st 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:
Sponsoring Unit
Cafcass is sponsored by the Department for
Education and is a non-departmental public body.
Cafcass National Office:
6th Floor
Sanctuary Buildings
Great Smith Street
London
SW1P 3BT
Budget: £138.2 million
(2010-11)
Employees: Cafcass employs
around 1,700 staff nationally.
Geographical Reach:
Cafcass is a national organisation
delivering services to children, families and the courts
from 75 sites across England.
Service Outputs:
For 2010-11 we worked with 146,999 children and
young people across England. Of these, 82,860 were new cases. This
comprised 42,145 boys and young men (50.9%) and 40,715
girls and young women (49.1%).