Ministers open Cafcass Cymru at Head Office on North and South
sites
22 January 2004
Jane Hutt, the Minister for Health and Social Services, today
opened the new Office of Cafcass (Children and Family Court
Advisory and Support Service) in Wrexham. This follows
yesterday’s opening of the new office in Cardiff by Rhodri Morgan
the First Minster at the National Assembly for Wales. Both
Offices will operate as one Head Office for Wales on two
sites. Cafcass the Non Departmental Public Body provides
advice and support to the Family Courts when future arrangements
for children in adoption, care, contested residence and contact
cases are being decided.
On opening the office the Minister
said:
“I am very pleased to be opening,
with the First Minister, the new Cafcass Cymru Head Office on two
sites in Wales. I’m sure this new head office with its
excellent facilities, will be an asset to Cafcass as it
continues to improve its vital services to families, children and
young people in Wales.”
The new Cafcass Cymru head office is on
split sites in keeping with the National Assembly for Wales’
strategy to have its offices located across Wales. In
addition to the Head Office Cafcass Cymru have opened a number of
other new offices across Wales. The new offices are all part
of a strategy to ensure that children and families in Wales have
access to local offices ll provide spacious, comfortable and
suitably equipped rooms for meetings with families, particularly
children and young people.
Dafydd Ifans the Director of Cafcass Cymru,
welcomed the Minister to the Wrexham Office:
“I am delighted the Ministers have come to
formally open our new head office on both sites, which we believe
offer excellent facilities for our staff working with children and
their families to help them sort out the best arrangements for
children involved in proceedings before the Family Courts”.
“The head office on two sites is an
initiative aimed at opening up key posts in the organisation to
individuals across Wales”.
“As well as opening the new office, I am
pleased that the Minister will also meet staff and practitioners
based at the office to discuss local issues as well as national
developments relating to Cafcass in Wales.”
The Cardiff and Wrexham Offices are part of
thirteen Cafcass Cymru offices in Wales. Staff at these
offices produce some 3,200 reports annually in public and private
law proceedings for the Family Courts in Wales.