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Cafcass welcomes child-centred Family Justice Review recommendations

3rd November 2011

Cafcass has welcomed the Family Justice Review panel’s proposals for a more child-focused and faster family justice system.

Anthony Douglas, Chief Executive said, "We welcome the panel’s emphasis on the needs of vulnerable children in these cases and on the focus it has given to tackling the corrosive effect of delay on their lives. In particular, we welcome proposals for a time limit in public law cases and the development of a child’s arrangement order in private law cases, so that in both types of case the child’s deadline takes precedence over bureaucratic processes. Change has already begun but, as the panel recognises, it must accelerate.

"With significant numbers of new children needing professionals’ help every day our top priority is to maintain the improvements we’ve made in our work with children and ensure they get the best possible service in the timeframes which they need. Care application figures for October have already topped 800, making it the highest October we’ve ever recorded and highlighting the urgent need for all of us in the system to work together more effectively and more rapidly on behalf of children. We support the panel’s calls for the development of a more responsive and child-focused system and will play our full part in its development.

"We are already working on a number of projects that any new family justice system would be proud of. These include funding around 15,000 parents onto parenting programmes so far this year to help them resolve their disputes out of court, and the establishment of a Police National Computer unit at our National Business Centre to ensure that we receive vital information on the safety and welfare of children more quickly than ever before. In the West Midlands, we are working with Coventry and Warwickshire local authorities on a project to try to divert some care applications from court, and to ensure that in those cases which do have to go to court, there is less delay as a result of the detailed preparation work between Cafcass Guardians and local authority social workers.

"We are also joining forces with the local judiciary and Suffolk County Council on a project with parents who have lost their children through care proceedings to help them make the changes needed to prevent any of their future children being taken into care. Whilst the panel is clear that there is no magic solution to the pressure we are all under, each of these initiatives shows that the system can change positively through the stronger working together model it is proposing and by ensuring our combined resources are used to help children in the most effective way."

For further information, or to arrange an interview with Anthony Douglas, please contact Naomi Lawson: 0844 353 3320 / 07768 79648 / naomi.lawson@cafcass.gsi.gov.uk

Cafcass - Putting children first in family courts

Cafcass welcomes child-centred Family Justice Review recommendations