Cafcass Staff: A Broad Cross Section of Society?
Cafcass (Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service) provides a variety of staff members who undertake different roles within the family court system. Cafcass officers broadly comprise of:
- Family Court Advisors, who are trained social workers and work exclusively within the courts system, protecting and advocating the interests of children.
- Children’s Guardians, who represent the child’s interests and help the court in adoption cases or in cases in which the court intends to make an order to protect the child from harm.
- Family Support Workers, who support contact between children and their families, and who work alongside and provide assistance to Family Court Advisers.
Reforming the System
There are well-documented problems with Cafcass and the organisation has been subjected to many complaints in recent years. Although there is a multi-level complaints system in place, it is recognised that the system needs improvement and concerns of those who deal with Cafcass need to be dealt with more quickly and efficiently.One common complaint with Cafcass, and particular Cafcass Family Law Advisors, has been that they are typically female and often from middle-class backgrounds. These two factors are often of concern to separated dads, who do not feel that their interests are adequately represented or indeed understood by female officers.
Cafcass Reports can be subjective, and very focused on the officer’s perception of the parties involved. For example, if a father has not seen his child for a year and a half, and is frustrated, angry and hurt by this, the Cafcass officer may perceive this as the father having an aggressive nature normally, which could end up having a detrimental effect on the report. Other officers may become hardened to the job, and may have developed a cynical attitude when dealing with certain types of cases.
Staff Recruitment
Social work as a whole has been through a recruitment crisis in recent times, especially since high profile tragedies such as that of Baby P have acted as a deterrent for those who previously considered entering the profession. Another problem relates to accountability. While Cafcass determines that ‘all cases must be treated on their own merits’ this means that there can be a huge variation in practices both geographically and between officers.While every individual has freedom of choice over their career, government initiatives have previously been shown to work in terms of improving a broader demographic in certain professions. In order to do this successfully within social work and in particular Cafcass, it is important to make the career more attractive to potential applicants. Reform of the system, better staff training, an implementation of firmer policies and an increase in understanding of cultural differences may all contribute towards a fairer system.
The Current Complaints System
Unless and until the system in its present state is reformed, those who come into contact with Cafcass must use the complaints system. Broadly this is as follows: in the first instance, you should make a complaint in writing to the Regional Complaints Manager in your area. If your complaint is considered to have merit, it will be ‘registered’. You will be given reasons if it is not registered. If this happens, you can ask for a review by a Regional Director (but you must do this within 10 working days). Again, if you are not happy, you can go to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, but you must do this through your Member of Parliament.
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Comments...
Where do you start,and how much do you write.My ex left me with four lovely children.Her and her partner (a woman) and all the family members told her you cant leave your children with him.her partner wants to take on the role of a dad,after stating many times when asked I WOULD NEVER HAVE CHILDREN OF MY OWN BECAUSE OF MY SEXUALITY, BECAUSE OF THE EMBARRESMENT AND STIGMA IT WOULD CAUSE FOR MY CHILDREN. She has no problem doing it to my children.After a heated conversation with my elders daughter in june 2010.explaining to her that her mother has chosen her new partner over her (this was the 6 times her mother had done this)My daughter taped me and it ended up (10 DAYS LATER) With a health visitor who made a urgent referal to the social services (TOOK 10 DAYS TO GET THERE) The health visitors account is all lies.when my ex was away, my two youngest daughters asked if they could phone thier mother to see when they could go with her.Thier mother said to me, dont get the girls to phone me and ask to come with me on the days i dont have them, stop trying to mess up my new relationship.The girls where taken off me and given to thier mother on the advice of the cafcass officer and he said i must have suppervised visits.he came to this decision with out any contact with me.and was told in a strategy discussion on the16/07/2010 that the children where not at risk with me.(july 2010)In sep 2010 (wed 1 sep) me my ex and my youngest went out for the day and we had a very nice day.on the day me and my partner talked about the way things where and we agreed on many things.She said before you have to see the children in a contact centre i will come with you.When she got home she phoned me and said they are all in my house giving me grieave because iv been with you. Her mother then phoned cafcass and he got me back in court on fri 3rd of sep for breaking a court order.(FOR THE RECORD MY EX DID NOT SAY THE TRUTH IN COURT ABOUT OUR DAY OUT)and has done so on many occasions( when i asked him about it he said (imatirial if the court order is right or wrong its a court order) his two bosses (WHICH WHERE WOMEN) said it does not matter about the court order you and your ex going out for the day with one of the children has to be a way foward.If the cafcass officer had looked at the situation logicly and asked all involed me my partner and the children(NO THIRD PARTY INVOLEMENT AS THE JUDGE SAID ON MORE THAN ONE OCCASION) Which he did not do. My partner and i would have made our own arragements about our children.Now 18 months later no contact (when i do i have to pay £40 per hr to see my own children) and to rub my nose in it. Her lesbian partner has more rights to be with my children than me.At least 12 court appearancesmore than 6 caffcass reports. the last report wrote by the cafcass officer.on 12/01/2012 he says in it qoute (i firmly beileve that cafcass and,indeed the court has no further role to play at this time)and such contact as can be agreed betwee
no justice - 25 January 2012 @ 3:19 PM
I'm still waiting to complete my initial phone interview prior to directions hearing. Officer told me she had to go to another meeting and didn't have time. She suggested we reconvene and finish the following week.Never heard anything and when I tried calling (3 or 4 times) I ended up getting an angry call from service manager telling me that the officer's involvement had ended!! Next thing I know is Cafcass writing to court asking for a prohibited steps order as ex had called them and made false allegations. Judge went against cafcass proposals for all contact to stop, so I guess I was lucky!!??
Charlie - 27 October 2011 @ 6:27 PM
I had my 1st court date on the 4th of October after waiting a shocking 8 months to get it there, I was happy with the date though as it was 6 days before my lads 1st birthday on the 10/10 & thought now its in court at least I would get to see him on his birthday ~ well thats until the caffcass woman got involved who has said I can have 0 contact until she has got her finger out and finished her reports.
higgins - 9 October 2011 @ 1:10 PM
My daughters ex partner who is a drug addict and dealer approached cafcass to obtain visits to see my two grandaughters age 4 and 2, the fIrst visit was supervised by a cafcass member in a room with toys, my 4 year old grandaughter went in the room as she remembers her dad but two year old wouldnt as he left home when she was 3 months old, on the second visit the cafcass member basically stood in front of me and ushered both the children into a room full of toys and shut the door in my face telling me to wait in another room for half an hour, my youngest grandaughter played with toys for almost half an hour then came out of the room. I told the cafcass person she was out of order and unproffessional to which she commented not the time or place, she has sided with my daughters ex all along whatever he has done and with evidence, I as a grandmother am concerned for the safety of my grandchildren if he ever gets unsupervised access, what can I do to prevent this, concerned grandmother.
lou - 10 September 2011 @ 2:29 PM
Cafcass should be shut down or re-form. The way the system works, they do NOT reconise the childs best interests at all when it comes to good fathers trying to jump though every hoop he's told, and still only gets to see thier child limited time, once a fornight is not goood enough, what about the dads side of the family who the child has a right to know? My cafcass worker has had 18 days leave the day after the last court hearing and im still left in the dark about what the next steps are. Goverment should listen this is not working.
ravinbaby - 29 June 2011 @ 1:51 PM
I have attended court today and the cafcass officer (the 3rd I've seen) didn't seem to be bothered about anything. I told him of the problems I'd had, reported to him about breaches of the order and the fact that my ex will not budge from what SHE wants. Nothing was reported to the court. I have found them a complete waste of time in all of my dealings with them.
Rich - 20 June 2011 @ 9:02 PM
I found CAFCASS to be woefully under-resourced. There is a better organisation called NYAS - think of them as a privatised version of CAFCASS.Their whole approach starts from the principle of why should the child NOT be spending time with Dad. This makes a huge difference to the process.I also found that they were more willing to be pushy in court.
Ed - 6 June 2011 @ 2:02 PM
I am going through the process at the moment with Caffcass. Despite never breaking the law, being arrested or have any history of violence, every time I speak to Caffcass, my officer makes me feel like I am the worst dad in the world, and everything she say's make me feel that she was and is always on the ex-wifes side. I have waited and tried to negoitate with my ex-wife for unsupervised contact with my 5 year old son, for the last 4 years, but being a male I have 'NO VOICE'. The system penalises dads who want to be dads and appears to be heavily weighted in the mothers favour, despite what lies are told and what evidence is produced, they just do not want to know!
JP - 4 April 2011 @ 4:13 PM
The cafcass official who interviewed my brother turned up late, was very short and sharp, and a well used line was "why on earth would your ex partner lie". The interveiw was cut short so she could make her next appointment.
jules - 21 March 2011 @ 1:51 PM
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