CAFCASS delays continue

By Martin Ridings, Partner in the Family Law Department
Unless you have been involved in a Court case concerning arrangements for children you are unlikely to have heard of CAFCASS. It stands for Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service and replaced the old Court Welfare Service in 2001.

CAFCASS has 2 main roles. In “private law” proceedings (such as contact and residence disputes), CAFCASS will look to assist the parties through Dispute Resolution to reach agreement. This is a process where the parents discuss the issues with an officer of CAFCASS with a view to reaching agreement. If Dispute Resolution is inappropriate or unsuccessful, CAFCASS prepare reports to assist the Court in deciding the best outcome for the children. In “public law” cases (such as where a local authority applies to place a child in care), a Children’s Guardian is appointed to represent the child’s interests.

In both private and public law cases, the role of CAFCASS is often central to ensuring that the best possible outcome for the child is arrived at.

Despite the principle that delay is contrary to a child’s best interests being enshrined in law since 1989, delays with the preparation of reports and the appointment of Children’s Guardians continue to have a significant impact on the length of Court proceedings.

In the Cheshire area it is not uncommon for it to take several months for a Children’s Guardian to be appointed. Given that whole Court process is supposed to take 9 months or less it is not difficult to see that the absence of a Children’s Guardian for a significant part of that process will be detrimental to the administration of justice.

Likewise, it is currently taking 6 months for CAFCASS to prepare reports in connection with residence and contact disputes. Add to this that it may take up to 2 months to get an initial Court date before CACFASS even become involved and that it is likely to take several months after the report has been prepared for a final decision to be made, and you can see how 12 months can pass by. In the worst cases this could be 12 months without any contact between a parent and a child. With younger children in particular, this is an enormous length of time and one in which the child may even forget the parent.

There has been considerable debate as to the cause of the current crisis. Is it underfunding of CAFCASS as a whole? Is it poor management? Is it lack of suitably qualified staff? There is still no clear answer. I would like to make clear, however, that I don’t believe the fault lies with those on the front line – the Children’s Guardians and CAFCASS officers. In my experience they are hard working and dedicated and as frustrated by the situation as everyone else.

In May 2009, the Chief Executive of CAFCASS, Anthony Douglas, was summoned to appear in Swindon County Court by video link by District Judge Byron Carron to explain the reason for “inordinate” delays in children cases.

There does not, however, appear to have been any reduction in the time taken for reports to be prepared. Only last week I was involved in a case where the estimate from CACFASS was 24 to 26 weeks. CAFCASS have started to “outsource” preparation of some of their reports to outside agencies. I shall reserve judgment on how successful this is, although as of the time of writing this blog the first of these “outsourced” reports is some 6 weeks late.