Children must be focus of family justice system, says
Cafcass
Cafcass has called for the family justice system as a
whole to be reformed so that children and families benefit from a
better service.
Responding to the Family Justice Review panel’s interim report,
Anthony Douglas Cafcass Chief Executive said, “The panel’s analysis
of the challenges facing all of us across the family justice system
is spot on and we welcome many of its proposals. Further reform of
the entire system is unarguable but this must be right from the
child’s perspective and carefully planned – any changes to the
family justice system must make a positive difference to
children.
“Family cases are often messy, with certainty and solutions
elusive and children far less able to put their side of the story
than everyone else, despite, ironically, them being the subject of
every case. It’s essential that children continue to benefit from
our expert social work analysis and advice in these complex cases
and we are pleased that children’s welfare remains at the heart of
the proposals.
“With rising numbers of children needing help and money tight,
one of the key things we’re arguing for is stronger performance
management of all agencies so that each plays its role in reducing
avoidable delay for children and so that our combined resources are
used to help them in the most effective way.”
Within its submission, Cafcass has also called
for:
- The child’s needs and timetable to be given greater focus and
prominence with cases completed, where possible, within six months,
and more quickly in infants’ cases.
- Children’s Guardians to continue to provide independent social
work oversight of care cases and ensure that poor or incomplete
care plans are challenged so that children benefit from the best
possible outcomes.
- Improvements in local authorities’ pre-proceedings work so that
courts are able to re-focus on judging whether the threshold has
been met for a child coming into care. This would also help to
ensure that there is less need for experts’ assessments and help
reduce the length of proceedings.
- Greater judicial continuity and specialisation in family law
with local lead judges playing a central role in the wider system
leadership.
- Maintaining Cafcass’ early risk assessment role in private law
cases where the main issue is often the level of risk the child is
exposed to, rather than the contact or residence application
itself. This will help to ensure that only cases where it is safe
are referred to dispute resolutions services, such as
mediation.
Click here to read the
full press release.
Click here
to read the full response.