Open letter to the groups representing the interests of fathers
in Private Law
14 June 2005
Cafcass recognises the distress and
anger many fathers feel in private law cases when their long-term
relationships with their children are put at risk. We believe it is
important for organisations like ours, working at the heart of the
family justice system throughout England, to show leadership on
behalf of children and their fathers, and to promote their common
interest.
Our role is to look after the
interests of children when cases are referred to us by the courts
and we acknowledge that in the vast majority of private law cases
this will be best served by preserving children’s relationships
with both parents. That is one of our core values. The only
exceptions to shared decisions on parenting is if there are
continuing child protection or welfare concerns, or a history of
domestic violence relating to either parent which requires us
legally to make a careful assessment about the impact of new
arrangements on individual children.
If a dispute between parents over
their children ends up in court fundamentally unresolved, the
consequences for all family members can be devastating and
lifelong.That is why our policy is to go on supporting parents and
helping them to resolve issues without recourse to expensive legal
battles during which attitudes frequently harden even further.
Cafcass acknowledges the important
role groups like Fathers 4 Justice, Families Need Fathers, the
Association for Shared Parenting and Fathers Direct play in
bringing the distress felt by men in private law proceedings to the
attention of the wider public and into the political arena. We also
recognise that these groups often do not solely represent the
interests of fathers, but also mothers and other relatives who feel
excluded from the lives of the children they love.
We are worried about the harm suffered
by children in all sorts of ways in private law cases, which makes
them unrecognised children in need. Whilst we are a child care
organisation, we don’t think a useful distinction can be made
between the interests of children and their parents, unless a child
faces serious harm from one or both parents, when it is clearly our
duty to refer the matter to local authorities or the police for an
investigation.
More typically, our role in private
law cases is to promote positive personal relationships within a
family rather than listening to parents identify each others faults
and then writing up those entrenched and hostile attitudes in a
court report. We work towards relationship breakthroughs rather
than breakdowns. Supporting both parents to combine in their
responsibilities towards the care of their children is our starting
point.
For the last 6 months, Cafcass has
been in a constructive dialogue with Fathers 4 Justice with the
twin objective of making progress on the issues facing fathers and
avoiding a negative cycle of direct action against our offices and
the resultant police actions and prosecutions that have inevitably
followed. In short, we have been seeking to combine our duty of
care to fathers with our duty of care to our staff, who have the
right to go about a difficult job without being placed under unfair
pressure.
In private law cases, we work at the
hard edge when relationships collapse. Emotions are always running
high. We do not want to be seen by fathers or mothers who come to
us for help as biased against them. The evidence we have from
research shows that our involvement results in more children having
more time with their fathers. In our view, long-term dialogue is
more likely to promote positive change and a stronger joint
understanding than conflict.
An example of the benefits of
long-term dialogue would be reflected in our working partnership
with Families Need Fathers (FNF). This well-established group
focuses on children maintaining good relationships with both
parents and provides a valuable support service via its helpline
and information posters and leaflets, which we have agreed to
display in our offices. As a key stakeholder and member of our
Service Users Interest Group, FNF are able to influence and comment
on current developments within Cafcass and the family justice
system as a whole.
Cafcass and Fathers 4 Justice will be
taking some practical steps to develop their relationship further.
This will include F4J meeting the Cafcass Board in July, and newly
designed F4J leaflets being displayed in Cafcass offices. F4J will
sign up to the Cafcass protocol for stakeholder engagement, which
sets out mutual respect principles. We will also be working closely
with Families Need Fathers and Fathers Direct in developing more
strategic partnerships.
For Cafcass, this is part of a wider
strategy of engagement with all groups representing children,
mothers, fathers and relatives whose cases come into the family
justice system. We will be working with all groups to develop a new
set of service principles so that people are clearer about what
they can come to expect from us. We are a learning organisation and
we believe positive and enduring communication is one of the
hallmarks of successful organisations and successful family justice
systems.
I grew up without having the benefit
of knowing my birth father, which was a source of great sadness to
me. In a time like ours, when relationships end for various
reasons, it is even more important to fight for the rights of
children to enjoy a continuing positive relationship with both
their father and their mother. Of course all children are
different and our responsibility in law is to represent children as
individuals and to get the best possible deal for them. They
themselves are not responsible for their parents breaking up and
they need support to grow up in a way which best helps them adapt
to the change in circumstances forced upon them. In Cafcass, we
will continue to do our best to help families manage these tensions
and emerge the stronger for it.
Anthony Douglas
Chief Executive, CAFCASS