Child Impact Assessment Framework (CIAF)
Overview
The Cafcass Child Impact Assessment Framework (CIAF) sets out how children may experience parental separation and how this can be understood and acted on in Cafcass. The framework brings together existing guidance and tools, along with a small number of new tools, into four guides which Cafcass private law practitioners can use to assess different case factors, including:
- Domestic abuse where children have been harmed directly or indirectly, for example from the impact of coercive control.
- Conflict which is harmful to the child such as a long-running court case or mutual hostility between parents which can become intolerable for the child.
- Child refusal or resistance to spending time with one of their parents or carers which may be due to a range of justified reasons or could be an indicator of the harm caused when a child has been alienated by one parent against the other for no good reason.
- Other forms of harmful parenting due to factors like substance misuse or parental mental health difficulties where these are assessed as harmful to the child.
The framework emphasises that safeguarding principles and child impact are at the heart of our assessment process, with assessments starting and ending with the question ‘What is happening for this child?’ Each private law assessment is undertaken in accordance with the underlying principles of Cafcass private law assessments.
Assessment and change for the child
The assessment process starts when Cafcass receives the case from the court. It asks the open question: ‘What is happening for this child?’ As the Family Court Adviser (FCA) gathers information, they may make use of tools or guidance to help understand the child’s experience. The FCA will also be open to new information as this emerges. The process ends as it started: the FCA considers what all of the information gathered means for the individual child. This informs the child impact analysis and leads to recommendations to the court and parents about what arrangements and interventions are in the child’s best interests.
Case factors
As you gather information select one or more of the relevant case factors and use the tools and guidance to deepen your understanding of the child’s experience.
Resources for assessing domestic abuse
Our Family Court Advisers (FCAs) need to ensure that our assessments concerning domestic abuse focus on the impact on the child, are based on a combination of static and dynamic risk factors, information gathered and that it is analysed using reasoned professional judgement. Our FCAs use their social work skills but also need to be aware of the appropriate research base and which evidence-based tools will assist in being as clear as possible regarding the risk.
Read the Domestic abuse practice pathway
Read Domestic Abuse practice guidance
| Resource | Guidance on use | Source |
|---|---|---|
| What we need to know | Private/public law: use in interview to establish the nature, duration and context of domestic abuse, to assist in the benchmarking of risk against the Barnardo’s Domestic Violence Risk Identification Matrix. | Cafcass |
| SafeLives DASH guidance | Private law: Use in interview if domestic abuse is current to establish if a referral to MARAC is required. | Safe Lives |
| SafeLives DASH tools | Private law: Use in interview if domestic abuse is current to establish if a referral to MARAC is required. | Safe Lives |
| Spending Time Arrangements Safety Indicator | Private law: To be used during or post interview to analyse whether contact is safe / in child’s best interests. | Cafcass – derived from Sturge and Glaser, 2000 |
| Domestic Abuse Safety Planning aid | This aid can be used to enhance the safety of spending time arrangements where domestic abuse has been identified but the severity and likelihood of ongoing domestic abuse is low, please see the introduction section for further advice on when and how to use this aid. | Cafcass A15b |
| Practice aid for Assessing coercive control | Private law: This aid should be used where the Safe Lives Dash has identified elements of coercive and/or controlling behaviour to assess this dynamic more fully in the context of the application. | Cafcass |
| Situational couple violence Guidance | Private law: Guidance on recognising situational couple violence and points to consider. | Cafcass |
| Distinguishing domestic abuse and harmful conflict screening practice aid | Private law: This aid is designed to be used early in the life of a case to assist the FCA in deciding which will be of most assistance in their assessment: the blue domestic abuse aids and guidance or the orange harmful conflict aids and guidance. It is not designed to be diagnostic in and of itself and does not replace professional judgement. | Cafcass |
| Impact of DA on children guidance | Private law: Provides FCAs with guidance on working with children who are living with domestic abuse and the trauma it can cause. | Cafcass |
| Motivation and indicators regarding victim empathy | A new practice aid – based on the Sturge and Glaser criteria – has been introduced to the CIAF. It should not be used as a checklist or standalone aid, but as a supplemental guide to explore motivation and victim empathy within a holistic assessment alongside the static and dynamic risk factors. | Cafcass – based on Sturge and Glaser, 2000 |
| Supporting children’s arrangements assessing relatives and friends (SCAARF) practice aid | Aid for assessing wider family and friends to support contact. | Cafcass |
| Fact Finding Recommendations practice aid | This practice aid should be used to support thinking and decision making before a recommendation for a fact-finding hearing (FFH) is made to the court. | Cafcass |
Resources for assessing harmful conflict
Harmful conflict can lead to poor outcomes for children and this guide supports the assessment of this, and provides information on the range of interventions to support successful co-parenting post-separation, if this is a safe scenario for the children. It is important to distinguish between harmful conflict and domestic abuse within our cases, and for our Family Court Advisers (FCAs) to assess the impact of harmful conflict on the child involved. Our FCAs consider the severity of the parental behaviours alongside the impact of these behaviours on the child using the same scale
Tools and guidance
Read the harmful conflict guide.
| Resource | Guidance on use | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Dispute resolution skills and techniques guidance | Private law: This is a brief guide for Family Court Advisers (FCAs) undertaking dispute resolution (DR) work. It sets out some approaches that can help parents refocus on the child’s experience, rather than on their own conflict. | Cafcass |
| Parenting styles tool | Private law: This tool sets out how parenting style has a significant impact on children’s outcomes and tend to fit under one of four categories: authoritarian, authoritative, indulgent, and neglectful. | Cafcass |
| Distinguishing domestic abuse and harmful conflict tool | Private law: This tool is designed to be used early in the life of a case to assist the FCA in deciding which will be of most assistance in their assessment: the blue domestic abuse tools and guidance or the orange harmful conflict tools and guidance. It is not designed to be a diagnostic tool in and of itself and does not replace professional judgement. | Cafcass |
| Cafcass Positive Co-parenting Programme suitability criteria tool | Private law: FCAs can use this tool to assess the suitability of a case for the Cafcass Positive Parenting Programme (CPPP) | Cafcass |
| Children’s beliefs about parental divorce tool | Private law: To be used when working with children to understanding their beliefs about their parents’ divorce. | Kurdek and Berg (1987) |
| Supervision of Children’s Arrangements – Assessing Relatives and Friends (SCAARF) tool | Tool for assessing wider family and friends to support contact. | Cafcass |
Resources for assessing child refusal/resistance
When a child is resisting or refusing time with a parent/carer post-separation, there may be a number of causes for this. This guide describes the range of potential causes for the resistance and/or refusal, and supports exploration of the impact on the child of adult behaviours, including alienating behaviours. It also provides guidance on children’s wishes and feelings and making recommendations to court in these circumstances.
Our Family Court Advisers consider the intensity of the parental behaviours alongside the impact of these behaviours on the child.
Tools and guidance
Click here for the Children’s resistance and refusal to spending time with a parent guide
| Resource | Guidance on use | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Assessing children’s and young people’s wishes and feelings guidance | Private law: This guidance addresses best practice when listening to and analysing children and young people’s wishes and feelings, to help practitioners consider what arrangements are in the child’s best interests. | Cafcass |
| Alienating Behaviours Thinking Tool | Private law: This is an analytical tool to be used by practitioners after they have completed interviews with parents and children and obtained a range of other information such as from the school, police and LA. Based on this information, FCAs can click on ‘choose an item’ to indicate the frequency of alienating behaviours. | Cafcass |
| Recommendations for the child when alienation is a factor guidance | Private law: This guidance provides advice for recommendations on cases where the assessment indicates that the child is being harmed by alienating behaviour (or the court have found facts regarding this) and that this behaviour cannot be curbed. | Cafcass |
| Children’s beliefs about parental divorce tool | Private law: This guidance provides advice for recommendations on cases where the assessment indicates that the child is being harmed by alienating behaviour (or the court have found facts regarding this) and that this behaviour cannot be curbed. | Kurdek and Berg (1987) |
| Interim Guidance in relation to expert witnesses in cases where there are allegations of alienating behaviours – conflicts of interest | Guidance for court professionals in the appointment of expert witnesses in cases where there are allegations of alienating behaviours, avoiding conflicts of interest where the appointed expert recommends intervention or therapy that they or an associate would benefit financially from delivering. | Family Justice Council |
Resources for assessing other forms of harmful parenting
Our Family Court Advisers need to consider all the factors which play a part in harmful parenting, such as mental health and substance abuse. This ensures a focus on the wider harm that may occur, and not only of that raised specifically in the application to court.
Tools and guidance
Read the other forms of harmful parenting guide
| Resource | Guidance on use | Source |
|---|---|---|
| SCODA – risk assessment with parental drug misuse | Private law: To be used in an interview to establish an evidence base for analysis. | SCODA |
| Tool for drug abuse | Private law: To be used in an interview to establish an evidence base for analysis. | Cafcass – adapted from Fowler, 2003 |
| Alcohol use tool | Private law: To be used in an interview to establish an evidence base for analysis. | Adapted from Department of Health (DoH 2000) |
| Tool for parenting knowledge and style | Private law: To be used to explore parents’ understanding of their child’s needs according to age and stage of development. | Cafcass – adapted from Fowler, 2003 |
| Child exploitation screening tool | Private/public law: This tool can be applied to all children (male and female) under the age of 18 and its purpose is to enable practitioners to assess a child’s level of risk of CSE and/or CCE in a concise and consistent manner. | Cafcass |
| Adult wellbeing scale | Private law: To be used in an interview to establish an evidence base for analysis. | DoH 2000 |
| Parenting daily hassles scale | Private/public law: An assessment tool which can be used with the parents/carers to consider their view of the children’s needs and how they are coping with these needs. | DoH 2000 |
| Mental health thinking tool | Private/public law: This is a tool to help organise FCAs thinking and critically review evidence in cases where parents have mental health difficulties. It is not designed to be a prescriptive or definitive measure of risk and should be used in the context of the overall structured professional judgement, in conjunction with the broader evidence in the case. | Dr Sheena Webb, Tavistock & Portman NHS Trust for Cafcass, 2017 |
| Child impact timeline tool | The impact timeline works like a chronology, highlighting significant events, but with a focus on the impact of those events on the child/ren. The tool supports practitioners in identifying trends and patterns and supports them to understand the impact on children and in their analysis to the court | Cafcass |