What is CAFCASS?
CAFCASS stands for Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service and it is a government-sponsored service providing advice and support to the Family Court.
What do they do?
A Family Court Adviser is there to represent a child/children’s interests in children proceedings before the Court.
They are often tasked with preparing reports for the Court to assist them in making decisions as to a child’s/children’s long term living arrangements.
When do they become involved?
Once an application in private children proceedings has been issued, they will receive a Court Order directing their involvement. They speak to the parties involved in the application and will do safeguarding checks of the parties with the Local Authority and Police. These checks will be to see if the Local Authority have been involved with the family and if the parties have any cautions/convictions or pending prosecutions.
CAFCASS may have continued involvement if the Court require further assistance from them.
What documents do they prepare?
They will prepare an initial safeguarding report for Court and later on if their involvement is required to continue, they will prepare Section 7 reports which considers the parties and children in more details.
Do the Court take their recommendations into consideration?
Yes, they are in conjunction with all of the other evidence before the Court.