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